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Clifford Lo

Thieves operating among bustling festive season crowds in Central have stolen nearly HK$1.9 million in two separate incidents over the past two days.
A Canadian tourist had 240,000 Singapore dollars (HK$1.43 million) stolen from his rucksack yesterday afternoon. The 45-year-old man withdrew the money at the HSBC headquarters in Des Voeux Road Central then walked to a bus stop at the International Finance Centre in Harbour View Street, where he discovered his bag had been opened and the money taken. 
Police said the man was probably followed from the bank.
The case came  after the owner of a money exchange company had HK$460,000 stolen from his bag at the Central MTR station at lunchtime on Tuesday. The man was carrying the money from his shop in Sham Shui Po to Sheung Wan.
 He told police that a South Asian woman got in his way at the station and then two men bumped him from behind as he boarded a Sheung Wan-bound train. On the train he discovered his bag had been slashed and the money taken.
'It is a common trick among pickpockets who take advantage of the crowds on the busy platforms to steal,' a senior police officer said.
'As people rush onto the train, they mingle with the commuters, dipping their hands into bags or cutting open bags to steal. Anything they take is immediately passed to an accomplice who then slips away.
'They pick up targets at the MTR stations and look for victims in other locations like banks. They follow their targets and wait for the opportunity to steal,' the officer said.
Police figures show reports of pickpocketing rose by nearly 31 per cent to 1,119 in the first 10 months of this year, from 855 in the same period last year.
There were 1,082 pickpocketing cases in the whole of last year, 15 per cent more than the 940 in 2008.
On Sunday, police announced their annual winter precautionary measures to crack down on crime across the city, including increased street patrols.



Thieves net HK$1.9m from festive crowds