The Hong Kong Police announced Sunday that they had smashed two transnational syndicates which were involved in theft cases in Hong Kong and three foreign countries.
The police raided over 20 locations Saturday night in Hong Kong, arresting five men and 12 women aged between 20 and 50 and seizing about 63,000 Hong Kong dollars and U$2,000 in cash.
Initial investigations revealed that the suspects are 13 Colombians, three Sri Lankans and one Indian. They are suspected of being connected with seven theft cases which had occurred since May this year.
Senior Superintendent and Head of Interpol Hong Kong China Yu Mun-wah said that the culprits would divert the attention of victims by spraying liquid onto their clothes or tell the victims that some banknotes belonging to them had fallen from their bags.
The latest case occurred shortly after noon Saturday, when one of the suspects intentionally dropped a bundle of banknotes to divert the attention of a 35-year-old man outside a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui while another suspect took away the victim's bag containing some 80,000 HK dollars in cash.
Yu appealed to the public to take good care of their belongings and not to lend opportunities to the criminals for petty gain.
(People's Daily July 22, 2002)
