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Danny Mok

An electronic engineer who allegedly stole HK$500,000 when a security van spilled millions of dollars in cash onto one of Hong Kong’s busiest thoroughfares on Christmas Eve was arrested on Tuesday night.
The 46-year-old man was ambushed by officers near his home in Sunway Gardens on Kings Road, Quarry Bay, at about 10pm.
Police said the man admitted that he had scooped up a bundle of HK$500 notes worth a total of HK$500,000.
He converted HK$480,000 into yuan and deposited it into his bank account on the mainland in five or six instalments, while spending the rest on entertainment.
Officers from Wan Chai district crime squad last night recovered bank deposit slips (and shopping receipts at his home. No cash was recovered.
The man was released on a bail on Wednesday and ordered to report back to police next month.
WATCH: People scramble for cash after van spills banknotes on busy Hong Kong street

Police said the man was targeted based on clues collected from security camera footage. He was detained overnight and police said he would be prosecuted for theft soon.
The money he picked up was part of HK$15.23 million that went missing on December 24, when a G4S armoured security vehicle spilled bundles of cash onto busy Gloucester Road in Wan Chai.
Footage showed drivers stopping their cars and passers-by running into the road to take fistfuls of cash in a mad scramble that lasted some 10 minutes.
Police said that out of the HK$52.5 million that tumbled out of the van in three plastic boxes, HK$15.23 million disappeared before officers arrived.
Forty-six people have voluntarily returned HK$7.92 million since police launched a public appeal to retrieve the money, saying those who handed in the cash would avoid prosecution. Among them was a woman who picked up more than HK$1 million and who surrendered it on December 29.
But HK$7.15 million remained missing as of yesterday. Police have continued to warn that those who took the money should return immediately it or face arrest.
Officers have been poring over hundreds of CCTV tapes and have arrested eight people including the electronic engineer – seven men and one woman – and recovered about HK$160,000 stashed under a bed at the home of one of the suspects.
Two of the eight were charged with theft when they reported back to police on January 28. One of them, a 43-year-old recycling trader who stole HK$161,500, was jailed for five months by the Eastern Court on January 30. He was travelling in a taxi and asked the driver to pull over so he could collect some money, the court heard. Investigators found the stolen cash underneath his bed at his home in Kowloon Bay.
Another man, a 68-year-old cleaner, was sentenced to a month in prison, suspended for 18 months, after he pleaded guilty to one count of theft at Eastern Court on January 29. He admitted scooping up HK$8,000. The court heard that while he returned HK$2,000 to police, he pocketed the remaining HK$6,000 and later spent it on a Samsung mobile phone.
Late last month, a police source said a hunt was on for about 10 people captured by security cameras taking part in the Christmas Eve money grab.


Engineer who ‘stole HK$500,000 during Hong Kong cash grab frenzy’ arrested

Cash strewn over Gloucester Road in Wan Chai on Christmas Eve. Photo: SCMP Pictures

News

Hong Kong

An electronic engineer who allegedly stole HK$500,000 when a security van spilled millions of dollars in cash onto one of Hong Kong’s busiest thoroughfares has been arrested.
