Shooter linked to soccer gambling

Source says off-duty officer who shot colleagues was connected to underground betting syndicate

The off-duty police officer who shot dead one of his colleagues and critically wounded another had long-standing connections to an underground soccer gambling syndicate, a police source has told the Sunday Morning Post.

Since the shooting in Tsim Sha Tsui early on Friday morning, it has been discovered that Constable Tsui Po-ko had a 'substantial amount' of unexplained money in his bank account, the source said.

Tsui, 35, gunned down constables Tsang Kwok-hang, 33, and Sin Ka-keung, 28, during a shootout in an underpass between Canton Road and Austin Road.

Tsui - who was killed when his colleagues returned fire - is believed to have had an excellent shooting record. All three shots he fired hit their targets, the source said. Tsang, who was shot in the head, died from his injuries and Constable Sin remains in a serious condition in Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Ten shots were fired - three by Tsui and seven by the two on-duty officers.

Police chiefs confirmed the .38 revolver Tsui used was the gun stolen from Constable Leung Shing-yan, 23, who was shot dead answering a bogus noise complaint in Tsuen Wan in March 2001. It was also used to kill Zafar Iqbal Khan, 31, a security guard, during a bank robbery in Castle Peak Road nine months later.

Tsui had reportedly worked with Leung at the Lei Muk Shue police station.