Cat burglar scales 19 floors via drainpipe in robbery of HK flats

Cat burglar scales 19 floors via drainpipe in robbery of HK flats

Two properties were broken into at Twin Brook in Repulse Bay. (Handout via South China Morning Post photo)
Two properties were broken into at Twin Brook in Repulse Bay. (Handout via South China Morning Post photo)

An audacious burglar climbed up and down the drainpipe of a 20-storey building in one of Hong Kong’s upmarket neighbourhoods before fleeing with HK$60,000 (236,000 baht) in cash and valuables from a luxury flat, a police source said on Tuesday.

CCTV footage showed the man began his perilous climb on the ground floor of Twin Brook on Repulse Bay Road shortly before 10pm (9pm Thailand time) on Monday. “The man, of medium build, climbed back down about an hour later,” said the source.

He said an initial investigation showed the burglar managed to prise open window and climb into two flats on the 11th floor and 19th floor, but no valuables were stolen from the 19th-floor flat.

The break-ins came to light shortly before 7am when a domestic helper found the living room of an 11th-floor flat had been ransacked. A police spokesman said one of the windows had been prised open.

“An initial investigation showed HK$40,000 worth of jewellery and HK$20,000 in cash had been stolen from the flat,” a police spokesman said.

Another tenant notified officers making inquiries in the 20-storey building that her flat had been broken into, but no valuables were stolen.

No one has yet been arrested.

It was the third report of burglary in Repulse Bay and another nearby upscale area, Deep Water Bay, in two months.

On May 20, a 22-year-old man visiting from mainland China was arrested in connection with a break-in on South Bay Road, Repulse Bay. He was accused of triggering the security alarm of a luxury house and fleeing empty-handed.

He injured his feet running barefoot along the rocky shore, and a trail of blood led officers to a quay at Repulse Bay Beach, about 400 metres from the house, where he was arrested.

On April 29, police were called to a luxury home on Deep Water Bay Road to investigate a burglary in which HK$400,000 in valuables were stolen from two safes. The tenant and his family were on holiday at the time.

Separately, about HK$900,000 worth of expensive medicinal products, including caterpillar fungus, were stolen from a shop on Haiphong Road in Tsim Sha Tsui soon after 9am on Tuesday. The break-in came to light when the shop owner arrived at the store to open up. Police said the back door had been opened.

On Monday, police were called to a shop on Hung To Road in Kwun Tong around 2.30pm after 23 mobile phones, valued at HK$150,000, were stolen along with HK$39,500 in cash.

Police figures show the number of reported burglaries rose to 527 across the city in the first four months of this year, up 4.2% from 506 in the same period in 2018.

In recent years, there have been reports of break-ins in upmarket areas such as The Peak, Repulse Bay, Kowloon Tong and Deep Water Bay.

Last October, a burglary was foiled at the home of former Auxiliary Police Force commander Arthur Kwok Chi-shun on The Peak. The robber triggered a security alarm and fled without taking anything.

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