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Police from Macau and Hong Kong have jointly busted a loan shark scheme operated by a cross-border criminal syndicate, targeting gamblers in Macau, especially Hong Kong gamblers.
According to Macau news agencies, the Judiciary Police (PJ) announced that it apprehended a Macau resident and a Hong Kong resident within Macau’s jurisdiction while Hong Kong law enforcement arrested five individuals in its own region. Joint efforts were being made to locate and arrest the remaining suspects involved in the illegal operation.
The syndicate was exposed when a victim reported the case to the police after she was threatened by the suspect (one of the arrested individuals) to pay up HKD148,000 (US$18,953.09) despite the victim having only borrowed HKD100,000 for gambling purposes.
Investigations showed that the syndicate had been active in both Macau and Hong Kong over the past years, providing loans to gamblers in Macau, particularly Hong Kong gamblers.
Borrowers who lost their money were secretly transported to Hong Kong and forced to pay back double the amount of their borrowed sum. Those failing to pay back the debts were subjected to intimidation and extortion tactics.
Cross-border crimes, especially between Macau, Hong Kong and the GBA were recent topics of discussion following earlier crackdowns of said syndicates, most of which were involved in money laundering, illegal gambling and other crimes.
Macau’s DICJ also intensified its battle against unlicensed junkets, as some were still in operation despite previous arrests and convictions of ex-junket operators or managers.
