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- Two men attempted to pull off a multi-million dollar heist in Hong Kong – with a water gun.
- Staff at the money lending firm called the robbers' bluff when they saw the blue plastic toy.
- The Hong Kong police arrested a 27-year-old man at the scene, and are looking for his accomplice.
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Two men attempted to pull off a $25 million heist in Hong Kong, but the staff at the money lending firm they were trying to rob called their bluff – because their "weapon" of choice was a transparent blue water gun.
The South China Morning Post reported that an unnamed 27-year-old man was arrested at a loan outlet run by Promise, a finance company that gives out cash loans to individuals. The authorities are currently searching for his accomplice, a man in his 30s.
According to the police source SCMP spoke to, the staff members knew the weapon the 27-year-old was carrying was a plastic toy based on its coloring and material, but alerted the authorities by pressing a panic button anyway.
Chinese media outlet Sina News wrote that the attempted robbery happened at 11.51 a.m. local time, at the finance company's San Fung Avenue branch, a ground-floor location at Sheung Shui Town in Hong Kong's New Territories.
Local TV station HK01 News reported that staff at the outlet saw the younger of the two men striding toward a 30-year-old female staff member, asking her to hand over HK$200 million (around $25 million). There was a heated conversation between them, after which the two men fled the store.
The store's employees told HK01 News that the duo returned several minutes later, after which the 27-year-old leaped onto the counter. According to the employees' accounts, he then grabbed a ballpoint pen, and yelled, "You b----, you called the cops!" while trying to stab the female staff member with the pen.
The SCMP reported that no money was taken, and staff at the Promise outlet were uninjured.