Saturday, December 27, 2014

2 Chinese Jailed: It Wasn't Santa Who Showered Them With $$$ on Christmas Eve

12/27/2014

Two Held in Hong Kong for “Money Rain” on Christmas Eve

HONG KONG – Two people have been detained on robbery charges in connection with the “money rain” that took place on Christmas Eve in Hong Kong when about $2 million fell off a cash transport vehicle on the road and was quickly scooped up by pedestrians and drivers.

The police Friday said that two people, a man and a woman, were detained the previous day for not returning the money they had picked up.

The police found about $200,000 in cash under one of the mattresses in the man’s house.

The two detainees, who were traveling in a taxi on Gloucester Road when cash began to “rain” out of the transport vehicle, were identified with the help of a security camera that recorded the incident.

The vehicle owned by the British security company G4S, which specializes in transporting cash, lost HK$15 million (about $2 million) when its rear door accidently opened and money literally flew out of it.

At that moment, several pedestrians and drivers rushed to the spot, a four-lane road in the center of the city, to collect the money which was in the form of HK$500 (about $65) bills.

By early Friday, a third of the $2 million had been returned, according to the police.

The authorities said that 30 people had handed over the money, while one of them returned the equivalent of $250,000.

Officers questioned traders and residents of the district as a part of the search for people who fled with the money.

The police asked the residents to return the remaining money or face charges of robbery, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The three security personnel in the transport vehicle did not realize what had happened until they reached their destination, about 14 kilometers (9 miles) from the incident spot.

Armed policemen cordoned off the area to prevent more people from going to the site to pick up money.

The vehicle was transporting a total of over $67 million in cash.

The Bank of China, which employed the services of G4S to transfer cash from one of its offices, said in a statement Thursday that the company had apologized for the incident and had promised to bear the losses.


source

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