Hong Kong police arrest 3 mainland Chinese visitors over 2 robberies ‘as they try to flee city’
- Source says trio stopped at border checkpoints, after officers pored over hours of camera footage to identify suspects from two separate robberies in same car park
- First incident involved victim being tied up with shoelaces by knife-wielding attackers, with man kicked and punched in second hold-up
Hong Kong police have arrested three visitors from mainland China in connection with two robberies, stopping them at border checkpoints when they tried to flee the city, the Post has learned.
One of the three men was intercepted at the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui on Wednesday, with the other two suspects picked up at another border control point the next day, a source familiar with the case said on Friday.
Inspector Yau Chung-hin of the force’s Eastern criminal investigation unit revealed that the three suspects were identified after officers pored over more than 300 hours of security camera footage.
The three men, aged 34 to 50, were being held on suspicion of robbery as of Friday morning. The force said they were from Jiangxi province and had two-way exit permits – the mainland travel document used to enter Hong Kong.
Police made the arrests in connection with two separate hold-ups in the same outdoor car park on Sheung On Street in Chai Wan on May 21 and Sunday this week.
In the May robbery, a 59-year-old man was stopped and assaulted by two knife-wielding robbers when he left his vehicle in the car park at around 9pm, according to police.
“The two [robbers] used shoelaces to bind the victim, took him back to his car and threatened him into revealing his bank card’s pin number,” Yau said.