This whole case unfolded just a few days ago, when on Wednesday at approximately 5:00 p.m., police received a call from the luxury resort Wynn Palace Cotai, where a man was found dead in one of the hotel rooms by the resort employees. The staff went to check on him at the suggestion of a member of his family who was unable to contact the victim.
The victim was believed to be a 40-year-old man from Hong Kong who had won HK$2.5 million, which translates to approximately €293,000, at the hotel's casino that day. He exchanged the chips for cash and went back to his hotel room at around 10:00 a.m.
Who did the killing and why?
The murdered man was seen with two other persons, a man and a woman. Both were immediately suspected of this murder and arrested by the police the same day.
A 40-year-old man from mainland China with the surname Yang entered the hotel room in question and stayed there for approximately one and a half hours. He then left the room and met a 48-year-old woman from Hong Kong, surnamed Tang, in the hotel lobby, to whom he handed over a bag full of money. Yang then returned to the guest's hotel room and remained there for approximately 3 hours. He then hailed a taxi and drove away with the two bags.
The murdered man had a 20 centimeter cut on his neck which was fatal, a laceration on his forehead and various other injuries. Police found two bloodstained knives with blades 6 centimetres long near the body.
Police caught Yang at a supermarket in Taipa and found HK$1.7 million (about €200,000), the victim's two mobile phones and bloodstained clothes in his rented apartment. Both the suspects and the victim were part of an illegal currency exchange gang. The woman surnamed Tang is suspected of having exchanged part of the stolen money for tokens and transferred another part to bank accounts on the mainland with the help of others in the illegal money-exchanging business.
Yang was allegedly jealous of the murdered man's winnings so he decided to steal the money from him. In addition, he is also charged with murder and Tang is charged with money laundering. The perpetrators have refused to cooperate with police and both face the maximum penalty, which in Macau is 25 years behind bars.
Macau has a problem with the illegal currency exchange business
China's Ministry of Public Security has launched an initiative to crack down on money-changing gangs. Such criminal gangs help mainlanders illegally trade foreign exchange in Macau. A July report in the Macau Daily News said that Hong Kong currency transfers are carried out through clandestine financial institutions. This illegal business is estimated to have generated annual revenues of more than HK$1.5 billion (€176 million).
Source - macaupostdaily, macaudailynews, casino.org, ginnie liang, william chan, wynnresortsmacau.com, asgam.com
