An alleged bank robber and his loot were quickly parted as police yesterday arrested a 57-year-old man they say robbed the Bank of East Asia headquarters in Central just hours earlier.
Speaking to reporters last night, superintendent Law Kwok-hoi said they received a report of a robbery at the bank at about 3:30pm yesterday.
CCTV footage published online shows the suspect — who local outlets purport to have a long history of criminal behavior — pointing a gun at bank employees as they take out stacks of cash from a drawer and place them into a plastic bag. The suspect then takes the bag and leaves the building.
Police arrested an unemployed man surnamed To at the Tin Yan Estate in Tin Shui Wai at about 7:50pm last night, and officers recovered the cash and the weapon, which was confirmed to be an air gun, Ming Pao reported.
Police said the suspect stole about HK$70,000 (just over US$8,900).
No one was injured in the incident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Qj3DEIJRs
After the police report was made, a manhunt for the suspect was launched, and armed police officers were spotted by commuters patrolling Central MTR station.
According to Ming Pao, this is not the To’s first brush with the law. The newspaper reported that he was sentenced to 16 years in jail for his involvement with in an armed robbery at a Dao Heng Bank branch on Hennessy Road in 1987.
In that incident, he fired a shot at the bank before holding six people hostage on a minibus in a stand-off that lasted eight hours.
The newspaper added that in 2003 he was jailed for 10 years for robbing several prostitutes, and in January 2016 he was arrested on suspicion of stealing a golden chain worth about HK$23,000 (over US$2,900) from a jewelry shop in Sham Shui Po.
