The Macao police have apprehended two Hong Kong citizens having allegedly committed over 100 burglaries in Macao within one year, local media reported Monday.

The Macao Post Daily quoted police sources as saying that the duo was caught red-handed when trying a cat burglary at a residential estate in the city's Taipa area Saturday.

One of the suspects, surnamed Pang, told police during the interrogations that the pair launched the crime spree for the difficulty of seeking a job in Hong Kong, according to the newspaper.

The suspects were believed to targeted high-rise residential buildings in Taipa and the loot was estimated at a total value of one million patacas (US$125,000), it reported.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29, 2006)