Hong Kong police on a roll as third suspect in toilet paper heist flushed out

Hong Kong has been gripped by panic buying since the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, as frightened residents hoard essentials like rice and toilet tissue. Now, a third man man has been arrested there for his role in a bizarre toilet paper heist, as a gang aimed to clean up during a run of frenzied buying in the city.

The 26 year old man was arrested up during a raid at a guest house not far from the scene of the robbery, in which 600 toilet rolls worth HK$1,640 (6,575 baht) were stolen at knife-point early on Monday morning.

“We believe the trio thought the rolls would have [market] value and that they could profit by reselling them. They knew each other and one of them has a triad background.”

“Triads” are traditional organized-crime groups originating from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Police say the gang moved the toilet rolls in a trolley after the crime and that they anticipate more arrests.

At about 6am on Monday, three masked men stole 50 packets of toilet roll from a delivery man outside a Wellcome supermarket. Police say one of the men was armed with two knives.

Two people, aged 50 and 55, were arrested on Monday, and police said at the time they were seeking three others, thought to be aged between 20 and 30. Two of the arrested were guest house employees while the third was unemployed.

SOURCE: SCMP