The number of reported robbery cases and rape cases increased 29.8 per cent and 68.4 per cent respectively in the first three quarters of this year, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said on Monday.
Wong announced the January-September crime statistics during a press conference at the S. Francisco Barracks on Monday. The Macau Public Security Forces are headquartered at Macau’s erstwhile Portuguese garrison barracks.
According to Wong, the total number of crimes reported in the first three quarters slightly increased by 0.4 per cent year-on-year, from 10,559 to 10,598.
Wong said that the number of reported violent crime cases rose 16.2 per cent year-on-year, from 450 to 523, in the nine-month period. He said that the rise in violent crime cases was mainly due to an increase in the number of false imprisonment and robbery cases.
According to Wong, the police investigated 278 suspected cases of false imprisonment during the first nine months, a year-on-year increase of 19.8 per cent, 274 cases of which involved loan sharks.
Some of the gamblers defaulting on their instant gambling debts are held against their will by loan sharks in a hotel room or private flat to put pressure on the victims’ family and friends to pay up.
The 274 false imprisonment cases involving loan sharks reported in the first three quarters represented a 25.7 per cent increase from the 218 cases reported during the first nine months of last year, Wong said.
According to the crime statistics for the first three quarters released on the website of Wong’s office, the police recorded 472 loan-sharking cases in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 17.1 per cent.
Wong said that 471 were casino loan-sharking cases, a 20.8 per cent increase from the 390 casino loan-sharking cases reported during the first nine months of last year.
Wong noted that most of the suspects and victims involved in loan-sharking and false imprisonment cases in the first three quarters were non-locals. In the reported false imprisonment cases, 99.1 per cent of the suspects and all the victims were non-locals, while in the loan-sharking cases, 94.6 per cent of the suspects and 97.6 per cent of the victims were non-locals, he said.
Wong emphasised that most of the loan-sharking cases and false imprisonment cases recorded in the first three quarters occurred in, or originated from, casinos and that “ so far there has been no indication” that the occurrence of the two types of crimes has extended beyond casino activities. He added that consequently these two kinds of crimes were still not posing a threat to Macau’s public security as a whole.
Wong also said that the police recorded 61 robbery cases during the first nine months, a year-on-year increase of 29.8 per cent. Wong said that many of the robbery cases happened in hotels and in “quiet places” in the street. Among the 61 robbery cases, 25 occurred in hotels, a year-on-year increase of nine cases, Wong said, adding that more than half of the cases in hotels involved illegal money changers. Wong said that 18 out of the robbery cases happened in quiet places in the street, adding that most of the victims were robbed late at night.
Wong said that in response, the police have strengthened their patrols in and around hotels and reinforced their efforts in combating illegal money-changing activities. He urged residents to avoid going to quiet places alone.
According to Wong, 32 rape cases were reported during the first nine months, a year-on-year increase of 68.4 per cent. Wong noted that more than half of the victims and suspects were non-locals, adding that most of the cases happened in guestrooms of casino-hotel resorts or hotels. Wong also said that the police did not rule out the possibility that some of the reported cases involved commercial sex services.
Wong also said that 11 cases of child sex abuse were recorded during the first nine months, three cases down year-on-year.
Sexual abuse of children refers to the situation in which a person has any kind of sexual contact with a minor under the age of 14.
Moreover, five cases of sexual intercourse with a person aged between 14 and 16 were reported in the first three quarters, three cases up year-on-year, Wong said, adding that the five victims engaged in consensual sex.
Wong said that “no or very few” serious violent crime cases such as kidnapping, homicide and grievous bodily harm were reported during the first nine months.
According to the website of Wong’s office, the police recorded three cases of grievous bodily harm in the first three quarters, two cases down year-on-year.
Wong said that two homicide cases were reported in the first three quarters, pointing out that both happened in the first half of this year.
According to the Macau Post Daily, Wong also said that the police investigated 1,059 fraud cases in the first three quarters of this year, a year-on-year increase of 21.6 per cent. He said that there was a large increase in the number of cases of fraud related to casino activities during the first nine months, when 291 such cases were reported, 116 more than in the same period of last year. He said that many of the 291 cases involved illegal money changers and loan sharks.
