Ten held as police smell something fishy in dried seafood sales

Kowloon West regional crime unit's "Operation Expunger" netted nine men and a woman over a spate of burglaries and recovered HK$140,000 worth of stolen goods, including Chinese medicine and dried seafood.

Two of the arrested men and the woman were shop owners suspected by police of reselling the stolen goods.

The suspects, aged between 27 and 52, were arrested from six flats in the operation that began on Friday.

Chief inspector Tsang Yiu-wo said the burglars preferred dried seafood because they were easier to sell at 50 percent less than those at established shops.

Of the 85 burglaries in the first half of the month, 24 occurred in shops. Burglary cases increased from 888 between January and August last year to 923 in the same period this year.

Tsang attributed the relatively higher figures to the long Mid-Autumn Festival holidays as residents and shop owners forgot to lock doors and windows.

Beatrice Siu
The Standard, 22 September 2008