Island's rate of burglaries rockets

THE peaceful fishing community of Cheung Chau has been hit by a massive increase in the number of burglaries.

Assistant divisional commander Inspector Bradley Wright said that so far this year there had been one burglary every two days on the island. He believed many more cases had gone unreported.

Last year there was less than one burglary a week. Only 44 burglaries were reported for the whole of the year.

Police are unable to explain the sharp increase, but believe many of the burglaries are committed by local residents rather than day-trippers.

Inspector Wright said efforts to fight crime at holiday houses on the island had led burglars to switch to homes of local residents.

''This is a cat and mouse game,'' he said.