Police are on the hunt for two men who posed as cops and stole US$2,700 from an elderly man on New Year’s Day.
According to HK01, the victim was a 63-year-old man surnamed Wong who was walking along Kin Wing Street in Tuen Mun at 6pm, carrying a manila envelope containing HK$21,000 in cash.
Two men claiming to be plain-clothes police officers asked Wong for ID, but then snatched the manila envelope and ran off.
Wong then called the police, who arrived at the scene and classified the case as theft and police impersonation.
Police say the suspects are two males roughly 30 years of age and both around 1.7 meters tall. One of the suspects has short black hair, a strong build, and was wearing a green jacket and blue trousers, while the second suspect was of medium build, and was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and black trousers.
According to the Offences Ordinance, a person who commits theft may face up to 10 years in prison while falsely pretending to be a public officer to procure any valuable thing is liable to a fine of HK$1,000 (US$128) or six months in prison.
The news comes after police revealed in December that crime overall was down compared to previous years, but that there has been an increase in robberies, burglaries and arsons as of the end of October. Police said that it was possible that criminals were taking advantage of the ongoing protest movement — and stretched police manpower — to commit crimes.
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