Burglars escape with HK$34,000 haul in break-in at exclusive Sha Tin house
HK$34,000 in cash and valuables stolen from Kau To Shan home of 87-year-old woman
PUBLISHED : Monday, 24 March, 2014, 2:51pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 25 March, 2014, 3:28am
Clifford Lo [email protected]
Burglars again hit the exclusive Kau To Shan area of Sha Tin on Sunday. Photo: SCMP pictures
A luxury house in the Kau To Shan area of Sha Tin has been burgled and HK$34,000 in cash and valuables stolen in the second such raid in the exclusive residential area in eight days and the fourth in the area six weeks.
The burglary was discovered at 11pm on Sunday when an 87-year-old woman returned from dinner to the two-storey house on Ma On Path to find her bedroom ransacked and two windows prised open.
"An initial estimate shows HK$30,000 in cash was stolen, together with two rings worth a total of HK$4,000," a police spokesman said.
Sha Tin crime-squad officers are investigating. No one had been arrested last night.
Land Registry records show the villa, in the Sha Tin Lookout estate, was bought by Applaud Land Investment Limited for HK$2.65 million in 1985. According to the company registry, the directors of the company are Chan Ka-hing, Chan Ka-po and Chan Ka-yiu.
There are five houses in Sha Tin Lookout. One of the villas sold last year for more than HK$80 million.
The area, where toy magnate Francis Choi Chee-ming lives, has become a regular target for burglars, as have several other exclusive areas in the city.
On March 15, another villa in the same estate was burgled and more than HK$130,000 in local and foreign currency was stolen.
The same night, HK$43,000 in cash and jewellery was stolen from an apartment in nearby Kau To Shan Road.
On February 9, two burglars stole cash and valuables worth almost HK$1 million from a luxury house in the Windsor Heights estate in Kau To Shan Road.
Other exclusive areas that have become targets include The Peak, Kowloon Tong, Shouson Hill and Repulse Bay.
Despite numerous raids on luxury homes, the number of burglaries that have been reported across the city has decreased since 2010.
Police figures show reports of burglary declined 15 per cent to 3,573 last year from 4,214 in 2012. There were 4,382 reported burglaries in 2011 and 4,543 in 2010.
Last year's biggest single haul was HK$20 million worth of jewellery taken from a home on The Peak in November.
