A sacked policeman masqueraded as an officer to search four civilians and steal credit cards from their wallets, a court heard yesterday.
Ting Kam-keung, 32, used the stolen cards to obtain $210,884 from the victims' accounts, the District Court was told, some of which was allegedly used to pay debts of $84,800 to a money lender in Macau.
The former police constable, who had served in the force for about 11 years before being dismissed in the middle of last year, denied 14 charges of theft and two of falsely pretending to be a public officer.
Prosecutor James Kynoch said between January and February, the four victims, aged 43 to 63, were followed by Ting, who stopped and searched them after claiming to be a policeman.
Ting flashed a card bearing a small crown emblem at the victims and inspected their wallets, the court heard.
Two of the victims testified yesterday that Ting had told them to remove cash and valuables from their wallets, which were returned to them after he had checked them.