Burglars nab HK$7m-worth earrings, cash and valuables from two Sai Kung houses
Detectives say thieves were probably not satisfied with the loot from the first house and then raided the second
PUBLISHED : Monday, 17 February, 2014, 3:04pm
UPDATED : Monday, 17 February, 2014, 3:04pm
Clifford Lo [email protected]
A view of Lotus Villas in Sai Kung
A businesswoman and her husband lost HK$8.6 million in cash and valuables in a break-in after she left her luxury house in Sai Kung unattended for a two-hour dinner out on Sunday night.
The stolen valuables are understood to have included a pair of earrings each studded with a five-carat diamond. The earrings’ value is estimated to be HK$7 million.
Other valuables including three luxury watches and four other pairs of earrings were also taken together with about 100,000 yuan in cash.
The 57-year-old woman, her husband and their maid were out of the three-storey house in Lotus Villas on Chuk Yeung Road when her residence was burgled, according to police.
It was one of two reports of burglary police received in the area on Sunday night.
According to police, a HK$2,000 watch and HK$10,000 in cash were stolen from another house in Muk Min Shan Road , about 500 metres away from Lotus Villas.
Detectives from the Wong Tai Sin district crime squad are investigating whether the two cases were carried out by the same gang of burglars.
A police officer said that a break-in usually involved two burglars who searched for unattended houses and raided.
“One of them acts as a lookout and the other sneaks into their targeted house to steal,” he said.
On Sunday, the businesswoman and her husband left their house for dinner at about 7pm. When she returned home shortly past 9pm, she found her house had been burgled.
An initial investigation showed a burglar climbed up drainpipes, pried open the kitchen’s window on the first floor and then climbed into the house, according to police.
“Valuables and cash were mostly taken from unlocked drawers in the second-floor master bedroom,” another officer said. A footprint was found on a surrounding wall of the Lotus Villas.
“We believe a burglar came down from a hill and climbed over the surrounding wall before breaking into the house,” he said.
Shortly before midnight on Sunday, police received another report from a 27-year-old man who returned home in Muk Min Shan Road and found his three-storey house had been ransacked. A HK$2,000 watch and HK$10,000 in cash were stolen from the second-floor bedroom.
“It is possible the two raids were carried out by the same gang,” the officer said.
“The raiders probably burgled the Muk Min Shan Road house but were not satisfied with the loot.”
“They then climbed down a hill and raided the Lotus Villas house.”
The two houses are understood to have not been installed with security alarms.
Around midnight, about 30 policemen including officers from the Police Tactical Unit combed the area with the deployment of a sniffer dog, but no one was arrested.
At about 10am on Monday, detectives returned to the Lotus Villas house to check closed-circuit television footage in an attempt to identify the burglars. They also collected other evidence including fingerprints at the scene.
According to police, officers from the Crime Prevention Bureau will look into the two cases and offer security advice to the tenants.
The number of burglaries reported across the city has been on a downward trend since 2010.
Police figures show reports of burglary decreased by 15 per cent to 3,573 last year from 4,214 in 2012. There were 4,383 reported burglaries in 2011 and 4,543 in 2010.
