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HONG KONG, Monday (AFP) - Armed with nothing more sinister than tomato sauce, toothpaste and a greasy wad of banknotes, a gang of Colombian con artists have managed to amass more than a million dollars on the streets of Hong Kong, it was revealed Monday.

The 15 Colombians, aided by an Indian and a Sri Lankan, squirted ketchup or minty mouth cleaner on their unsuspecting victims to distract them while swiping their valuable possessions from under their noses, police said.

In other stings, bundles of cash were dropped to divert attention while the thieves made off with jewellery and money, including one haul of more than 193,000 US dollars which had just been withdrawn from a bank.

But the sleight-of-hand crime spree came to an end last week when two suspects were caught in the act of separating a mainland Chinese man from his bag containing 80,000 dollars in cash.

Hong Kong police say those arrested were part of a syndicate, believed to also be operating in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and the Chinese mainland, which has netted at least 1.1 million dollars.

Five of the gang appeared in court charged with theft Monday and were remanded in custody.

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