The Macau Judiciary Police has revealed the arrest of five mainland Chinese men and seizure of 585 fake casino chips worth a combined HK$5.85 million (US$748,260). The men are also accused of defrauding a casino of at least HK$1.8 million (US$130,235).
Police received a report from a casino in Cotai on Tuesday that fake chips had been detected. The police carried out an investigation and arrested five men aged between 21 and 28. They seized 585 chips, each with a denomination of HK$10,000.
The five suspects admitted to committing the crime after their arrest and confessed that they had been recruited by a criminal syndicate on the mainland to commit crimes in Macau. The police said it is believed the criminal syndicate has been in operation since March.
The police also revealed the syndicate had a clear division of labor and the fake chips were so well made that it was “difficult to distinguish them with the naked eye”.
It is believed there are still three suspects at large, and police are tracking information of the suspects and the criminal syndicate.
Fake chips are a common occurrence in Macau, with a case last August detecting chips totaling HK$5.7 million.
However, Macau’s concessionaires are in the process of introducing smart gaming table technology which has the ability to detect fake chips via the use of RFID and artificial intelligence.
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