Police are searching budget hotels in Hong Kong and asking mainland authorities for help in the hunt for the 12-year-old girl who stole a HKD36 million diamond necklace last week.
The tween, estimated to be between 12 and 14 years old, is accused of casually picking up a master key from behind a counter, opening a display case and walking out of the Emperor Jeweller in Tsim Sha Tsui’s 1881 Heritage Mall with a MASSIVE piece of bling last Friday.
It is believed that two women and a man deliberately distracted staff by asking to look at items on the other side of the store.
A police source told the SCMP that they are issuing mainland authorities and border checkpoints with CCTV images of the suspected gang.
“Officers from the police tactical unit are being deployed to check budget hotels and guest houses frequented by mainland visitors,” the source added.
Just a thought, but if we had just stolen a 117 carat, 40-diamond necklace, we probably wouldn’t be slumming it too much.
And in case you’re wondering, the thieves are suspected to be mainlanders because they were speaking Mandarin, not because Hongkongers are prejudiced.
The source also revealed that it is believed the girl was met by an accomplice as she exited the shop with the stolen necklace, and that the man had visited the store previously on Jan. 18.
They are investigating whether the gang had inside information about the location of the master key.
After tracking the group on CCTV to Canton Road, officers lost them in the throngs around Haiphong Road.
Photo: AppleDaily screengrab
