Meng Wei, who was born in Beijing and graduated from Beijing Normal University before he emigrated to Hong Kong in 1990, was arrested on July 14 when he tried to rob a Hang Seng Bank branch in Mong Kok, Kowloon, of HK$2 million ($257,000) by claiming to have a bomb.

Meng told police he had lost that much money in Beijing to bad soccer bets during last year's World Cup finals (betting is illegal on the mainland), and July 18 was the day he had to pay the debt. He had no way to find so much cash and decided to try robbing the bank with a fake bomb. He fashioned an "explosive device" resembling the type used by suicide bombers he had seen on TV - a cylindrical object with wires attached to it - and put it in a brown bag.

At the bank on July 17, he held up the bag for a clerk to see and demanded HK$2 million or he would set the "bomb" off with a hidden "remote trigger", which turned out to be his car alarm key. The judge said he would not give the defendant a heavier sentence because no one was physically hurt.

(Oriental Daily News)