Robbers force-feed couple sleeping pills and steal cash

Two boys, aged 16 and 17, told police they were paid $500 each to commit a robbery in which a couple were tied up, fed sleeping pills and robbed of five bank cards and foreign currency in a Sheung Wan flat yesterday. The teenagers were among five robbers who ran out of the fourth-floor flat in Bonham Strand when a 25-year-old woman visited the couple around noon. The pair were caught in Elgin Street, but the other three escaped with the stolen property.

The robbers had rushed into the flat when a 22-year-old woman returned home there to her boyfriend, 28, at 4.30am. They stole the cards, about $4,600 in foreign currency and forced the couple at knifepoint to reveal their bank PIN numbers. The couple were also fed at least one pill each as some of the robbers went to withdraw $20,000. The boyfriend suffered minor injuries and was taken to Queen Mary Hospital.