A Macau man who reported that a Filipino had stolen a briefcase from a drunk man has himself been arrested after being found to have been the first to try to steal the drunk’s case, which contained cash and valuables worth a total of 22,000 patacas (US$2,734).
On June 24, the 20-year-old Macau man surnamed Chan notified police after observing that a briefcase had disappeared that belonged to a drunk man who was lying on a bench on Rua de Sao Lourenço or Fong Son Tong Street, Jornal Va Kio reported.
After a preliminary investigation that included observing closed-circuit television footage, Macau police arrested a 20-year-old Filipino man for allegedly stealing the drunk man’s black briefcase.
Police later recovered the missing briefcase; however, 550 patacas, 400 Chinese yuan (US$59) and HK$70 (US$9) cash was gone.
Further investigation then suggested that Chan the informant was actually the first offender. While he was trying to take around 1,000 patacas in cash out of the briefcase, he was caught red-handed by the Filipino, who accused him of theft, Macau Daily News reported.
Thinking that the Filipino was a friend of the drunk, Chan immediately handed him the briefcase as well as the cash, and left.
Chan later returned to the scene and was shocked to find the drunk man still lying on the bench but now without the briefcase, prompting him to report the Filipino to the police in an attempt to distance himself from any connection to this theft, police say.
what a plot twist!