Kidnappings jump linked to casinos

Although the overall crime rate decreased for the second consecutive year in 2010, the number of kidnappings soared. The phenomenon is linked to the gaming industry, secretary for Security Cheong Kuoc Vá acknowledged yesterday.
Authorities recorded a total of 98 kidnappings last year, 31 more than in 2009. Kidnappings recorded the biggest increase among all reported crimes, up 46.3 percent, according to the 2010 criminality statistics, revealed during a press conference.
Asked about the reasons behind this jump, Cheong confirmed the link between certain crimes and the casinos. “There are more illicit activities being practised in casinos,” he said.
The gaming revenue hit almost MOP 190 billion during the whole of last year, the secretary stressed. “It’s quite natural that the illicit activities should also increase,” he concluded.
Cheong promised that the Judiciary Police will “strengthen its activities against this type of crimes”.
Just last week, the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) also drew a link between gaming and an increase in organised crime cases filed on local courts – including human trafficking and coerced prostitution. Compared to 2009, the numbers of organised and triad crimes, drug-related crimes and money laundering cases rose respectively by 15 percent to 62, 10 percent to 301 and 23 percent to 27.
The MP pointed out that these three types of crimes were mostly associated with casinos and often involved cross-border syndicates, which showed that “organised and cross-border crimes in Macau remain complicated”.

Border priority

To fight organised and cross-border crimes will be one of the priorities of the local security forces in 2011, the secretary stressed. The exchange of information with police forces from neighbouring Hong Kong and Zhuhai will be intensified, he added.
Cheong also revealed that sham marriages boomed last year, with 42 more cases being reported. “I believe it’s about people trying to get a residence authorisation,” he explained.
In addition, the secretary said, authorities are catching an increasing number of document forgery cases where non-residents have tampered with their visa stamp, trying to remain for longer in Macau.

Still, the number of overstayers detected by security forces continues its “strong reduction”, he underlined, after the Government decided to increase the overstaying fine from 20 to 200 patacas per day, in August 2009. Last year 30,564 people were caught with an expired visa or with no visa at all, less than a fourth of the 133,792 cases detected in 2009.
In general, the crime rate has undergone “an expressive decrease in the last two years,” Cheong said. “The crimes that most affect people’s everyday life, such as theft, robbery and violent crimes have also dropped,” he added.
This “positive evolution,” the secretary said, is a result of “the determined efforts of the local security forces,” but also of “an improved cooperation from the population”.

Youth crimes

Nonetheless, some crimes increased slightly last year, namely sexual abuse of minors and rape, which rose respectively by 4.5 percent to 23 and 11.8 percent to 19. In most of these cases, the crime is committed by “someone close to the victim: a friend, a colleague or an acquaintance,” authorities stressed.
The number of female minors caught in youth delinquency cases jumped by 69.6 percent to 78, while the number male delinquents dropped by 4 percent to 119. “It’s the first time we have seen such a significant peak [in female youth delinquents] but it had also increased in 2009,” the secretary’s office said.
Most youth delinquency cases involved shoplifting and acts of violence. “If the situation worsens, we will come up with measures to minimise its impact. We already work with social work services to try to handle these cases,” authorities said.