Police were searching last night for a salesman after diamonds worth up to $2.58 million were reported stolen from the jewellery shop in Central where he worked.
Detectives have asked the Immigration Department to check whether Chan Chun-wing, 33, an employee of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Company, has left Hong Kong.
Police were called to the ground-floor jewellery shop in the China Building in Queen's Road Central shortly after 10.30am when staff arrived for work and found the diamonds stored in the safe had disappeared.
'We believe this was an inside job,' Detective Chief Inspector Au Kwok-cheung from Central district crime squad said. 'No prise marks were detected on the safe, windows and the front and rear doors and no sign of ransacking was found in the shop. One of the shop's salesmen failed to turn up for work and disappeared. We suspect he is linked to the case.'
Mr Chan, who has worked for the company for more than a year, was supposed to arrive for work by 10am yesterday. An investigator said Mr Chan was one of two employees responsible for the jewellery box in which the diamonds were kept. The box is usually handed to a supervisor at the end of the day to be placed in the safe.
Cleaning workers told officers that Mr Chan was the last employee to leave on Sunday.
