Two croupiers who were suspected of stealing gaming chips worth 600,000 HK dollars (77,420 U.S. dollars) from a casino in Macao have been arrested by local police, the Macao Post Daily reported on Friday.

The two suspects, surnamed Wong and Lei and aged 21 and 22 respectively, worked for different casinos in Macao, the daily quoted Macao's Judiciary Police spokesman as saying.

The spokesman also said that the arrest was made after a supervisor of the casino Wong worked for reported to the Judiciary Police on Wednesday that one of his croupiers was suspected of having stolen chips from gaming tables when he was on duty on July 14, 16 and 18. Wong was detained when he was on duty at the casino on Wednesday, and Lei was later caught when he was allegedly handling the stolen chips.

Wong was alleged to have begun stealing chips in May last year, and Lei received a certain amount of money from Wong each time when he cashed the stolen chips, according to the daily.

The case has been transferred to Macao's Public Prosecution for further investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2009)