The Secretary for Security, Mr Cheong Kuok Va, said today the police would enhance the collection of intelligence and continue to watch for out crimes, especially burglary and fraud, which had see an increase in the first nine months of this year. Disclosing crime statistics for the first three quarters of the year, the Mr Cheong said the 17.6% increase (up 626 cases to 4,194 cases) in property-related offences was the main reason for the 8.2% rise in the total number of crimes (7,774 cases) reported compared with the same period last year. Among property-related offences, Mr Cheong said, more significant increases were seen in burglary (+239 cases, 125.1%) and fraud (141 cases, 114.6%). In response to this rise the police had launched a series of operations and neutralized a number of syndicates. Despite the increase in the total number of crimes, he said, the number of violent crimes saw a drop of 12.3% (-80 cases), most significantly in extortion, which dropped by 34.9% (-22 cases), though robbery had increased slightly, by 4.2% (+11 cases). He said the authorities were very concerned with these crimes, which could affect the daily lives of residents and Macao's image as a tourist attraction, and that the authorities would step up its efforts to combat crime. Mr Cheong said a total of 1,773 cases of offences against the person were recorded in the first three quarters, with a slight increase of 1.4% (+24 cases), but serious physical offences had dropped significantly, by 55.6% (-15 cases). In the category of offence against social life, a total of 645 cases were recorded, with 266 cases of forgery (up 2.7%, +7 cases) and 248 cases of passing counterfeit currency (up 12.2%, +27 cases). Illegal gambling had also increased by 38 cases (79.2%) while drug trafficking and drugs taking had dropped by 23.1% (-15 cases) and 24.1% (32 cases) respectively. In the same period the police had repatriated 6,987 people from Macao, among which 345 illegal immigrants from the Mainland (+28 cases), 4,475 Mainland overstayers (+447 cases), and 465 foreign overstayers (-81 cases), Mr Cheong said.
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