Jailed horse trainer Brian Kan loses HK$1.9m in jewellery, cash to burglars
Five-time champion horse trainer Brian Kan Ping-chee has been robbed of more than HK$1.9 million in luxury watches, rings and cash at his Sheung Shui home as he serves jail time for poll fraud.
Kan's 34-year-old daughter called police on Monday night after returning to the house in Tsung Pak Long, Castle Peak Road, and discovering the break-in. The burglars had made a hole in a living-room window on the ground floor, unlocked it and removed a window grille to enter the house, police said yesterday. The thieves then broke into a safe and emptied it.
Police believed the burglars struck between 2pm and 8pm. An initial investigation found five rings worth about HK$1.2 million in total and two watches worth about HK$660,000 had been stolen from the safe, along with HK$50,000 in local and foreign currencies, a spokesman said.
A police investigator said it seemed like a professional job as technical skills were needed to break open the safe.
Kan's daughter and other relatives live in the house.
Officers mounted a search but no one was arrested. The crime squad was investigating.
Kan, 75, was convicted in November last year of one count of engaging in corrupt conduct during an election the previous March. He offered HK$130,000 to a village representative to vote for him as Sheung Shui Rural Committee chairman. The post carries ex-officio membership of the Heung Yee Kuk, which represents indigenous residents of the New Territories and has a functional-constituency seat in the Legislative Council.
Kan, a powerful figure in the New Territories, lost the election.
Following the conviction, he spent about a month in custody before receiving a 14-week prison sentence. He appealed and was released on bail. Last month, a further bail application was not approved and he was sent to jail.
In another burglary, a 51-year-old awoke at 5am yesterday to find three mobile phones worth HK$36,000 had been stolen from his house in Sai Kung.
It was the second break-in at Tsam Chuk Wan Tsuen, in Tai Mong Tsai Road, in three days.
On Saturday, HK$84,000 worth of cameras, lenses and a mobile phone were taken from the home of former legislator Gary Cheng Kai-nam, 62.
