Robbers of illegal currency exchanger arrested in mainland

Four men suspected of robbing illegal currency exchange operator in Macau were apprehended in mainland China eight hours after the alleged crime, the Judiciary Police (PJ) has announced.

The victim, a middle-aged man from Hong Kong, reported a loss of HKD500,000 from the alleged crime.

The four suspects are mainland men.

At 4 p.m. March 22, after a referral from the Public Security Police Force (PSP), PJ inspectors began investigating an alleged robbery in a hotel room in Cotai.

According to the alleged victim, he was contacted via social media and asked to meet at the hotel room for a currency exchange of HKD500,000. Arriving at the hotel room, the alleged victim saw Liu and He.

As he handed the cash to the two men, he was suddenly electrocuted on his head and back and fell unconscious for several minutes.

When he woke, his wrists and legs were bound with bathrobe straps and wires and he saw the two suspects fleeing with the cash.

It took him several hours to untie himself before calling police with the assistance of hotel staff.

Preliminary investigations have implicated Li’s and Yu’s involvement in the incident. The four people left for mainland China after allegedly committing the crime.

The police notified police departments in several mainland cities, and the mainland police apprehended the four men in three different cities within eight hours.

Mainland police have said the four suspects have been reluctant to cooperate with the investigation, according to the local police.

In another case, a non-local man who works at a Cotai hotel has allegedly scammed his employer of MOP31,900, the PJ has disclosed.

The 28-year-old mainland man, surnamed Yu, works as a waiter at the hotel.

On Feb. 28, the hotel told police the man had logged non-member spending at the hotel to a number of members’ accounts. As such, he had redeemed perks to enjoy at the hundreds of properties under the same brand around the world.

He was arrested March 21 when he tried to repeat the same deed, the police said.

Further investigations led police to believe that from December 2019 to January this year, the man had redeemed 27 nights of accommodation in properties of the hotel group in mainland China and Macau. He either used the accommodation rights himself or sold them online.

Sometimes when diners settled their bills with cash, he used his membership points to settle part of the bills, so he could appropriate the cash.

The man has six membership accounts, the police added.

In another case, a mainland businessman lost RMB45,000 after his mainland friend, surnamed Zhu, 34, scammed him.

During one of his trips to Macau on July 31 last year, the victim lost all his money to a local casino.

Meeting at a hotel room in Cotai, the two agreed on the currency exchange. The victim digitally transferred RMB45,000 to Zhu, who then started procrastinating and said he did not have enough cash for the victim. The two went out to get cash but Zhu reportedly fled.

On March 18, Zhu was arrested at the local airport but has denied the accusation.