Over HK$2 million of cash and valuables stolen as burglars break into five Hong Kong flats
The string of burglaries began on Saturday night with three taking place at the same luxury block in Happy Valley
A string of burglaries which began on Saturday night on several luxury residences in Hong Kong, including three flats in the same block, led to millions in cash and valuables stolen.
Burglars broke into three flats in a building in Happy Valley, netting an estimated HK$344,400 (US$43,900) haul, while across the harbour, two break-ins on adjacent streets in Kowloon City resulted in the loss of more than HK$2 million in cash, jewellery and other valuables.
The first case came to light at about 11.30pm on Saturday, when police were called to a ninth-floor flat in Shan Kwong Towers on Shan Kwong Road in Happy Valley after receiving a report of a break-in from a 49-year-old female occupant. The block was covered in scaffolding because it was undergoing maintenance works.
An hour later, police received another report from a 41-year-old woman living five floors above her. Officers found that the windows of both flats had been pried open and the homes ransacked.
A preliminary tally showed that the culprits made off with about HK$5,500 in cash and HK$96,000 in jewellery from the first flat, and an estimated HK$5,000 and 8,000 RMB (HK$9,900) in cash, as well as HK$159,000 in watches and jewellery from the second.
Three luxury flats in Hong Kong’s upscale Repulse Bay burgled; valuables worth HK$440,000 stolen
At about 6.30am on Sunday morning, police received another report from a 36-year-old resident on the 12th floor. A window was broken and about HK$69,000 in cash and jewellery went missing.
Detectives from the Wan Chai district are investigating the three Shan Kwong Towers incidents as a “serial burglary” case. No one has been arrested.
Meanwhile, across the harbour, police were called in at around midnight to investigate a break-in at Grampian Court, near the wealthy Kowloon Tong neighbourhood.
Like the Happy Valley break-ins, a window was pried opened and there were signs that the flat had been ransacked. The occupant, a 49-year-old woman, lost a safe containing HK$100,000 in cash, HK$1 million in jewellery and three watches worth about HK$270,000.
Also missing from the flat was about HK$50,000 in cash, HK$450,000 worth of jewellery, another timepiece worth HK$50,000, a HK$5,000 tablet computer and a HK$25,000 handbag.
Just down the street from Grampian Road, another break-in was reported at a flat in Ming Yuen Court on Nga Tsin Wai Road at about 10pm.
According to police reports, two men aged 30 to 40 – one wearing glasses, a white top and white vest and the other in a mask, blue jacket and trousers – assaulted a 65-year-old security guard in the stairwell before breaking into a flat through the front door.
They got away with a safe containing HK$10,000 in cash and HK$230,000 in jewellery. The security guard was sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for head and arm injuries.
Kowloon City police are investigating.
Four suspected members of Hong Kong burglary gang arrested
There were 1,872 cases of burglary last year, a 23 per cent drop from 2016 and the lowest since records were first kept in 1969. About 1,308 of these cases involved residential premises.
Luxury houses and flats in areas such as The Peak, Repulse Bay, Kowloon Tong and Deep Water Bay have been increasingly targeted by burglars in recent years.
