HK police arrests smash-and-grab gang

Hong Kong police on Monday night arrested three suspects who in the morning smashed a jewelry shop's windows and grabbed goods worth more than HK$40 million ($5.1 million) in one of the city's busiest commercial districts.

One man, 39, who had entered Hong Kong with a tourist visa, was arrested 600 meters from the scene, and most of the stolen goods were found, said Sin Kwok-ming, chief inspector of the Police Regional Crime Unit of Hong Kong Island.

The other two were arrested at Shenzhen Bay Port when they tried to flee to the mainland on two cross-border buses separately, according to a police spokesperson.

The three came from Colombia and entered Hong Kong with tourist visa, according to the police spokesperson.

The robbery took place at around 11 am at the Treasure Jewellery store on the ground floor of Duke Wellington House in the Central district.

The glass of the shop's front door was shattered and a black backpack was found. Police also found items in a nearby alley that were believed to have been used in the theft, as well as other items in Lan Kwai Fong, one of Hong Kong's most popular nightlife hot spots. These included a mask, a pair of gloves, a black coat and two hammers.

The robbery took less than a minute, the police said.

The police will investigate possible connections of the case with other local smash-and-grab cases.

It was the seventh smash-and-grab case since January 2017.

Last month, three masked Southeast Asian men pocketed around 60 expensive watches worth more than HK$1 million in Yuen Long.

Another masked gang smashed the window of a shop in Central Hong Kong at midnight in December. Around 14 second-hand designer bags worth HK$1.44 million were taken.

In September, three thieves fled with diamond ornaments worth HK$24 million on a stolen motorbike, after using a hammer to smash the shop window of a Chow Sang Sang jewelry chain shop in Tsim Sha Tsui.

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