Three Hong Kong police members faked a raid to protect an actual unlicensed casino. An undercover cop reported their actions to the police, leading to their arrest. The trio was eventually sentenced to several months in prison.
Three Policemen Helped Stage a Fake Raid
The three convicts are the 56-years-old sergeant Chiu Kwong-lam, the 38-years-old Fu Yu-man and the 51-years-old Lai Fuk-hong. In 2018, the three of them helped an illegal casino by informing its ringleaders about an imminent raid. The trio then helped to stage a fake operation by planting gambling equipment at an unlicensed gambling facility in Tsuen Wan. Four people were hired to pretend to be gamblers to make the operation more credible. In the meantime, most of the actual casino equipment was relocated to another site, so it wouldn’t be confiscated during the raid.
Luckily, an undercover cop who had infiltrated the Wo Shing Wo triad, reported the fraud to the police. He said that the gang was informed that the police would raid the illegal venue and, as a result, staged a fake operation to cover its tracks. The plan was to have fake gamblers arrested in order to distract the police from the actual illicit operations. Each of the pretend-to-be gamblers would have been paid between $150 and $635 (in USD) after they were released on bail.
The Trio Was Jailed for Its Crimes
After the undercover cop informed the police of the fraud, the raid was called off and the three corrupt policemen were arrested. As a result, Chiu was sentenced to 14 months in prison and will be deprived of his 30-year pension. Fu and Lai, on the other hand, each received 16 months in prison. Another accomplice, Chan Sui-po, was sentenced to eight months in prison. A fifth member of the group, Cheung Tsz-kin, got off without any jail time.
Deputy District Judge Katherine Lo Kit-yee pointed out that the policemen’s crime is very serious and that it is concerning that law enforcers tried to obstruct the law. According to her, such instances undermine the police‘s reputation and lead to unrest among the citizens.
The silver lining is that the three policemen who staged the fake raid were otherwise honest officers who aren’t known to have been previously involved with fraud. This notably served as a mitigating factor and helped them avoid lengthy sentences.