Police are unsure if anything was stolen, since Chang Hsin-kang and wife are away
The Mongkok residence of City University president Chang Hsin-kang was broken into yesterday while its security system was off and the academic and his wife were out of town.
A safe hidden inside the master bedroom's wardrobe was broken open and the guest bedroom and a reading room ransacked.
The Changs' two-storey home is in the exclusive Kadoorie Avenue neighbourhood in Ho Man Tin.
Police were unsure if anything was stolen since the couple could not be contacted yesterday. Professor Chang is giving a series of lectures in Beijing and is expected to return this week.
Police were alerted after a domestic helper arrived at the house at 10am and discovered it had been ransacked.
The Filipino maid, 28, alerted Professor Chang's secretary, who rushed over and called police. It appeared from initial investigation that the culprits climbed the 2.5 metre wall into the front yard, climbed a drainpipe to the first-floor canopy and prised open the window to the first-floor guest room. The burglars left by the same route.