Mainland Chinese gang links probed after four burglars caught in the act in Hong Kong
- Two of the men have a surname common among members of a notorious rural gang in southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region
- Officers seize equipment such as a crowbar, screwdrivers and gloves
Four mainland Chinese suspected of involvement in a cross-border burglary syndicate were nabbed by Hong Kong police midway through a raid on a money exchanger in the early hours of Monday.
The quartet, aged between 23 and 30, were picked up outside the Bulkeley Street shop in Hung Hom at about 2am, according to police.
“The four suspects were burgling the shop,” police said in a statement, adding that no property was stolen.
After arresting the men, officers seized equipment such as a crowbar, screwdrivers and gloves from them.
One of the men held a two-way permit, a mainland travel document used to enter Hong Kong. The other three were found to be in the city illegally.
A police spokesman said two of the arrested suspects were surnamed Wei, a name shared by many villagers in southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, home to a notorious rural gang. Crime-squad officers were investigating whether some of the thieves were related to the gang.
The suspects were placed under police surveillance after the organised crime and triad bureau received intelligence and identified them.
It was understood the 23-year-old was the syndicate’s ringleader, and the other three were core figures.
Hongkonger’s holiday homecoming ruined by thieves, as burglaries rise citywide
“Police believe they have smashed a burglary syndicate in the operation,” the force said, adding that investigation was continuing and further arrests were possible.
As of 1pm, the four suspects were being held for questioning and none had been charged. Officers were also investigating whether the gang was linked to recent break-ins in the city.
Police handled 2,056 reports of burglary in the first 11 months of 2019, up 44 per cent from 1,428 in the same period of 2018.
Since August, local police have stopped patrolling city streets on foot, because of the ongoing anti-government unrest and the perceived risk of being attacked by hard-core protesters. Officers are now patrolling in police vans instead.
Hong Kong has been gripped by eight months of street protests sparked by opposition to a now-withdrawn extradition bill, which would have allowed the transfer of fugitives to jurisdictions with which the city does not have existing agreements, including Taiwan and the mainland.
In 2017, police cracked down on several gangs of burglars from the mainland in connection with a series of holiday-season break-ins across the city.
In January that year, officers from the force’s elite special unit, known as the Flying Tigers, were sent to storm a village house in Pat Heung in the New Territories, where they arrested three burglars. There, they recovered about HK$5 million in cash, jewellery and valuables. Two of the three men were from Guangxi.
