Hong Kong police arrest debt-ridden man suspected of making off with more than HK$180,000 in audacious daylight robbery
- The 36-year-old unemployed man was intercepted by police outside a residential block in Tuen Mun on Thursday. He has not been charged
- Police said the suspect is believed to be in financial difficulty and had spent most of the money involved in the robbery to settle his debts
Hong Kong police have arrested a debt-ridden man who is believed to have broken into a money exchange shop with a hammer and made off with more than HK$180,000 (US$23,200) in an audacious daylight hold-up in Yuen Long last Saturday.
The 36-year-old man, who is unemployed, was intercepted by police outside a residential block in Tuen Mun at about 1.30pm on Thursday. In a follow-up search, officers seized some clothes and a pair of sports shoes inside his flat in the same building.
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“After an initial investigation, we believe the man was in financial difficulty so he robbed the money changer,” Chief Inspector Auyeung Tak of the Yuen Long district crime squad said on Friday.
He said the suspect had spent most of the money involved in the robbery to settle his debts.
As of 3pm on Friday, the suspect was still being held for questioning and had not been charged.
The robbery happened soon after 5pm last Saturday when a masked man used a hammer to break open the metal gate of the money changer to gain access into the Castle Peak Road shop.
According to police, the man threatened staff with the hammer before stealing HK$160,000 along with 20,000 yuan (HK$22,400).
An online video shows a female employee appearing to be in shock behind the counter when the robber, wearing a surgical mask, a cap and gloves and carrying a bag, ran out of the shop into the busy street amid shouts of robbery from passers-by.
The footage also shows a motorist jumping out of his seven-seater vehicle and giving a brief chase.
Auyeung said the robber changed clothes in a nearby alley after the hold-up and then took two taxis to a remote village in Pat Heung in an effort to avoid detection.
He said officers pored over a large quantity of surveillance camera footage to gather evidence and identify the suspect.
In Hong Kong, the offence of robbery carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, the chief inspector warned.
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Separately, police are on the hunt for two men and a woman who posed as plain-clothes officers to intercept two 16-year-old boys for a bogus stop-and-search, stealing a HK$10,000 mobile phone from one of the victims in Tong Mi Road, Mong Kok, around 1.15am on Friday.
Police said one of the male suspects punched the other boy in the incident, before the trio fled. Officers combed the area, but no arrests were made.
The city has recorded a sharp rise in reports of robbery this year. Police figures show there were 186 robberies in the first half of this year, up 322 per cent from 44 in the same period last year.
On August 12, a gang of thieves assaulted and threatened a 27-year-old man with a knife to steal HK$630,000 from him during a street deal for the purchase of three Rolex watches that turned sour in a Tai Po village.
It was the city’s fourth such street mugging in three weeks.
On August 5, two robbers slashed a 48-year-old man and snatched his HK$270,000 Rolex watch in Tai Wai MTR station in Sha Tin.
On July 24, a watch-store owner was robbed of a limited-edition Richard Mille timepiece worth HK$1.4 million in an attack by four men in Tsim Sha Tsui. On the following day, a 23-year-old man was assaulted and robbed of a watch of the same brand worth HK$1.6 million in Tin Shui Wai.
