Armed robbers in Hong
Kong made off with hundreds of toilet rolls worth more than HKD1,000 ($130;
£98).
Toilet rolls are
currently in short supply in Hong Kong due to shortages caused by panic-buying
during the coronavirus outbreak.
Knife wielding men
robbed a delivery man outside a supermarket in the Mong Kok district, police
said.
Police have arrested
two men and recovered some of the stolen loo rolls, local media reports said.
The armed robbery took
place in Mong Kok, a district of Hong Kong with a history of “triad”
crime gangs, early on Monday.
According to local
reports, the robbers had threatened a delivery worker who had unloaded rolls of
toilet paper outside Wellcome Supermarket.
An Apple Daily report
said that 600 toilet paper rolls, valued at around HKD1,695 ($218; £167), had
been stolen.
Stores across the city
have seen supplies massively depleted with long queues when new stock arrives.
Authorities blame
false online rumours for the panic buying and say supplies of food and
household goods remain stable.
There has also been
some panic-buying of toilet rolls, hand sanitisers and face masks in Singapore,
which has 75 confirmed coronavirus cases.
