Rare diamond snatched in HK$20m raid at superstar Andy Lau's former home
Rare diamond among items in safe taken from former home of actor Andy Lau
A rare 10-carat blue diamond worth an estimated HK$10 million is part of a HK$20 million haul of jewellery missing after burglars stole a safe from a home on The Peak that once belonged to superstar Andy Lau Tak-wah.
A police source said the diamond and other valuables were stored in the safe, which was inside a wardrobe in the cloakroom of a townhouse at the plush Overthorpe estate on Mount Austin Road. The HK$75 million house is now the home of a Singaporean businessman.
"Intruders climbed into the balcony of the first-floor bedroom and then prised open the sliding glass door to enter the house," the source said. "They went to the second floor, stole the safe from the cloakroom and left from the same route."
It is understood the 60cm by 60cm safe was not fixed to the wall or the wardrobe.
The theft was reported yesterday morning, but police said the safe had not been checked for two days, so the exact time of the burglary is unclear.
Police believe the thieves approached from the hill behind the three-storey house and climbed over the wall surrounding the estate. A search of the area yesterday proved fruitless.
The house was purchased by Super Class Investment Limited for HK$75.8 million in 2009, Land Registry records show. Its occupant is Neo Que Yau, 54, the company's director.
The home was owned by actor and musician Lau from 1994 to 1999, according to local media reports.
Marks on a window at another of the estate's 14 houses indicated there had been an attempt to force it open, the source said. "Thieves usually choose an easy target," the source added.
A senior police officer said it was the first break-in on the estate in some years and patrols would be stepped up. He said crime prevention officers would speak to the resident and to management at the estate, where homes have changed hands for more than HK$100 million.
Separately, a luxury apartment in Imperial Court on Conduit Road, Mid-Levels was burgled at about 8pm on Sunday. The thieves took HK$200,000 in cash and property.
Earlier this month, cash and valuables worth HK$3 million were stolen from the Happy Valley home of a top banker, one of four burglaries at luxury Hong Kong Island flats in two days.
There were 2,340 reports of burglary in Hong Kong in the first eight months of this year, down 17 per cent on the same period of last year.
