Lai See | Rapid response when the rich get robbed

It can take a long time to get the attention of the police, as we have noticed with matters such as illegal car parking and the like. But when the rich get robbed - the force immediately swoops into action.

Witness its response to the offences committed by the so-called spider-man burglar. He apparently shinned up scaffolding outside two apartments at a Repulse Bay development and made off with watches and jewellery worth HK$3.6 million last week. The police said it would step up patrols by uniformed and plainclothes officers around the Repulse Bay Garden Development.

Not content with that, we are told the patrols will include camouflaged officers hiding on a nearby hillside. But just in case that doesn't do the job, helicopters with thermal imaging may also be deployed. Hard to imagine this sort of response for a spate of robberies in, say, Sham Shui Po.

A curious statement from Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) appeared on the stock exchange's website yesterday concerning the company's chairwoman, the mainland's richest female, Cheung Yan.