A fifth suspect has been arrested in Hong Kong in connection with a sophisticated scam that saw two luxury watches worth HK$4.5 million stolen from a fake watch shop in Tsim Sha Tsui East last August.
Police arrested the 58-year-old local man on Monday evening at the Macau Ferry Terminal after he was deported from Macau. He is suspected of conspiracy to defraud and will be charged, appearing at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on Wednesday.
The man had fled to Macau via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge on the day of the original crime but was immediately arrested by Macau's Judiciary Police for a separate, near-identical watch scam there. Macau authorities deported him on Monday.
The August 4, 2025 scam involved two mainland Chinese men who brought two watches to a fake watch repair shop in Peninsula Centre. Conmen used a specially modified safe and counterfeit banknote to steal the timepieces. One suspect escaped through a hidden door.
Police initially arrested two men on August 8 – the alleged mastermind and a getaway driver. Following further investigation, two more local men, aged 20 and 23, were arrested in late November and early December on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. They have been released on bail pending further reports.
One of the stolen watches and HK$60,000 in cash have been recovered.
