5 Pinoy tourists deny pickpocketing in HK

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Five Filipino tourists this morning (Feb. 11) denied in court that they tried to steal the wallet of a Korean tourist at the MTR station in Central.

The defendants—Zenaida S. Aviles, Rasim D. Linambos, Arlene C. Gerodias, Manuelito M. Camacho, and Delia N. Tagalo—pleaded not guilty to the charge of theft filed against them at the District Court.

“Hindi ko po inaamin (I’m not admitting),” Aviles told District Court Judge David Dufton.

The prosecutor said the incident happened at the Central MTR station on April 24 last year.

The defendants allegedly surrounded a female South Korean tourist as she was on the escalator going down to the trains bound for Tsuen Wan.

Aviles allegedly tried to take the victim’s wallet from her bag.

However, the wallet was tied to the Korean’s bag and so she failed to get it.

It also turned out that an undercover police officer in civilian clothes was already monitoring the defendants due to their “suspicious behaviour” and they were arrested after Aviles failed to take the wallet.

Investigators later discovered that the suspects were staying in a guesthouse in Yau Ma Tei.

Judge Dufton set the trial for at least five days and the first prosecution witness–the police officer who first noticed the defendants’ alleged suspicious behavior–was testifying before the court had its lunch break.