A mainlander was arrested on Sunday for stealing a brand named watch worth 185,000 yuan from a fellow passenger on a Macao-bound flight, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a special press conference on Monday.
Thieves who steal property while travelling on a plane are colloquially known in Cantonese as “jet rats” (“feigei louhsyu”).
The 44-year-old suspect surnamed Meng told the police that he is a businessman.
According to Ho, the male victim reported the case to the police on 10 March. He told the police that he flew from Bangkok to Macao on the previous day. He put his rucksack in the overhead luggage compartment and took a rest. After he arrived in Macao and checked into a hotel, he discovered that his brand named watch worth 185,000 yuan had vanished from his backpack. He reported the case to the police.
According to Ho, PJ officers discovered that Meng was on the same plane as the victim on 9 March. He hocked the watch for HK$13,000 in a pawnshop in Nape the next day and went straight to the airport and left Macao. PJ officers were able to retrieve the watch from the pawnshop. Meng arrived in Macao on a flight from Hangzhou on Sunday evening and was arrested by the police at the airport. He refused to cooperate with the police’s investigation.
Meng was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Monday, facing fraud and aggravated theft charges, according to Ho.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
PHOTO © The Macau Post Daily/Iong Tat Choi
