Over the weekend, four men aged 26 to 42 were arrested over the HKD8.2 million robbery in gold and cash of former Hong Kong football captain Lee Wai-man.
The men were arrested in Kowloon on suspicion of robbery. Apple Daily reports that three of the suspects are of South Asian descent, while the fourth is of Chinese descent. Most of the gold bars stolen from Lee have been recovered, but authorities continue to search for a “mastermind” who orchestrated the crime.
The robbery took place at around 9pm on May 24, near one of the exits of the Fortune Metropolis shopping center in Hung Hom. Lee, 43, was carrying a suitcase containing 24 gold bars and JPY10 million (HKD700,000) in cash.
According to Lee, a group of five South Asian men stole the suitcase from him and threatened him with a knife when he tried to retrieve it. The men jumped into a van that was waiting in the driveway and sped off, leading police to believe that the crime had been planned out beforehand.
Lee sustained minor facial injuries but refused to go to the hospital. According to Headline Daily, Lee has repeatedly refused to disclose why he had the gold and yen to the police. Sing Tao reported late last month that police were investigating whether the 43-year-old was smuggling gold into Japan.
Japan’s black market for gold has been thriving ever since consumption tax was raised from five percent to eight percent in April 2014. A further increase to 10 percent was scheduled to take effect last month but has been postponed until October 2019.
