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SCMP Reporter

Three men who stole 178 luxury watches valued at HK$18.7 million from a shop in Japan and mailed them back to Hong Kong  were convicted  in the District Court yesterday.
 Chan Kong-yiu,  52, who is unemployed, Choi So-man,  50, a construction worker, and Chow Kwong-tung,  53, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal from the Tenshodo  watch shop in Tokyo's Ginza area  from October 27 last year  to January 7 this year. 
Chan was also convicted of dealing with the proceeds of crime. The prosecution withdrew the charge against Chan's wife Connie Chan Hong-nei,  37, in a plea bargain. Judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong  adjourned the case to October 6 to hear counsels' submission before sentencing. 
On January 2, Tenshodo's executive director, Niimoto Keiji, found a hole in the shop wall and discovered 193 watches worth three billion yen (HK$27.7 million)  had been stolen. 
That was after 47 Rolex watches valued at 27.7 million yen were taken from a shop in Nagano  prefecture. 
Chow, when arrested on January 8, told police that the three of them had planned the burglary before they travelled to Japan, and chose Tenshodo as a target after they arrived in the country, the court heard.  
Senior public prosecutor Winston Chan Lap-yan  said  the trio broke in with hammers and a saw,  stole about 190 watches, which they took back to a hotel and mailed  in registered parcels to Hong Kong. The three were convicted of stealing 178 of these. 
On January 4, a report was made to  police about two stolen postal bags at Sau Mau Ping Estate  that belonged to Hong Kong Post and contained letters. This led police to investigate Chan over the stolen watches.
On January 7, police officers seized 77 watches from Chan's home, along with his and his wife's safety deposit boxes. Seventy-one of the watches were from the two Japanese shops. One was identified as a watch stolen from a shop in Sendai, Miyagi  prefecture.  
The police also seized 146 gemstone rings, 31 luxury rings and 17 necklaces from the  boxes. They found 36 stolen watches at Choi's home and 71 at Chow's. 
Choi admitted breaking into the Tenshodo shop, the court heard. Some of the watches had already been offloaded on the mainland.
 Chan  also pleaded guilty yesterday to burglary of a commercial premises in Sheung Wan in January 2003, where he stole six gold coins valued at HK$6,000.  The three  have been remanded in custody.



Trio convicted of HK$18.7m watch heist in Japan