Hong Kong man finds safe containing valuables worth HK$800,000 stolen from Tsim Sha Tsui flat
He returned home in the morning to discover door to bedroom prised open and safe storing HK$500,000 in cash and 3 watches valued at HK$300,000 missing
A Hongkonger returned to his Tsim Sha Tsui flat after an overnight mahjong session only to find his safe containing cash and three watches, worth a total of more than HK$800,000, missing on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old man, owner of a pub in the district, discovered the break-in at his Star Mansion flat in Minden Row at about 7.30am, according to police.
“The door of the master bedroom was prised open and a 60cm by 60cm safe that was on the floor at one corner was missing,” a police source said.
“Initial investigations showed HK$500,000 in cash and three watches worth more than HK$300,000 had been stored in the safe.”
Officers were told that the tenant left home shortly after midnight to play mahjong with his friends. He discovered the burglary when he returned home after daybreak.
The source said there were no signs of a break-in on the flat’s front door and windows and no obvious sign of ransacking was found in the living room and the two bedrooms.
“It seemed the burglars targeted only the safe and they knew where it was placed and went straight to the master bedroom,” he said. “They might have been tipped off about the large sum of money stored inside.”
The police source added that it appeared the raiders knew that the tenant was not at home and that they might also have a spare key to enter the flat.
Police believed there were at least two suspects, and a vehicle might have been used to transport the safe.
Officers were poring over security camera footage to identify the burglars and find out when the burglary took place.
Detectives from the Yau Tsim police district are handling the case. So far, no one has been arrested.
On Monday, a luxury house near Chung Hom Kok Beach in Stanley was burgled and two watches worth HK$80,000 were stolen from a safe.
Officers were called to the Horizon Drive house at about 11.45am when its tenant found a bedroom window had been prised open. According to police, the two watches were stolen along with HK$3,000 in cash and a briefcase. Officers from the Western police district are still investigating.
The latest high-profile burglary happened last month when thieves broke into the Repulse Bay home of Chinese stringed instrument master Zou Lunlun. A safe was stolen from her home, and was found broken open and abandoned at a nearby hillside.
Latest police figures showed there were 678 reports of burglary across the city in the first four months of this year, a 16.9 per cent drop compared with 816 cases in the same period last year.
