Two young women from Hong Kong were arrested in Greater Tainan yesterday on suspicion of theft and vandalism related to their rental of a room in Taipei last week.
Giving only the women’s last names, Taipei prosecutors identified the pair as 19-year-old Yao (邱)and 18-year-old Tsang (曾).
The duo made headlines after they used false identities to rent a hotel room in Taipei that they allegedly trashed and vandalized with graffiti, before reportedly stealing the facility’s TV set, prompting police to issue a warrant for their arrest on Wednesday.
Police said they apprehended Yao and Tsang at a low-cost hotel in Greater Tainan, but not before they allegedly trashed another room, writing “Taiwan is China” on the wall in red ink, among other things.
Hotel staff called the police when the women failed to check out at the appointed time yesterday.
The staff said they became suspicious of Yao and Tsang, who had dyed their hair purple and gold respectively, when the two tried to pass themselves off as Taiwanese when checking in, but their Hong Kong accents gave them away.
Greater Tainan police said that when the women were questioned at a nearby police station, they said they had been planning to spend all of their money and then commit suicide.
Police said they found about US$330 in New Taiwan dollars, Hong Kong dollars and Chinese yuan on the women before they were handed over to Taipei prosecutors.
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