Man held for Octopus card fraud
Police yesterday arrested a civil servant for stealing funds from the Octopus card of a woman who disappeared while on a pilgrimage to Malaysia.
However, officers believe the suspect, an employee of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, was not linked to the disappearance of Tam Pui-kwun, 35, who vanished in December while on a pilgrimage to Mount Murud, in Sarawak, with 13 members of the Harvest Church religious group.
A police source said the 45-year-old, identified as Mr Law, found Ms Tam's Octopus card on a bus some time before she left Hong Kong in mid-December, and that he was not linked to Harvest Church. The suspect, who was freed on $20,000 bail last night, was arrested at about 8.30am at the intersection of Jordan Road and Battery Street, near a cross-border coach terminal. He was taken to his home in Tseung Kwan O, which was searched.
Ms Tam's lost Octopus card was linked to her credit card, police said, adding that about $7,000 had been credited to her Octopus card until her credit card was cancelled.
Earlier this month, Ms Tam's family said they had shown police a bank statement that showed her credit card was being debited in favour of her Octopus card by $250 almost every day since her disappearance.
The police source said the suspect had admitted using the Octopus card illegally after finding it on a bus. The source said the man's identity was discovered after police collected records on the use of the lost Octopus card and then checked the locations where it had been used.
The source said little progress had been made in the search for Ms Tam in Malaysia. But Leung Chi-hau, the founder of the Harvest Church, said it had not given up hope of finding her.
