2 Hong Kong security guards fired after Mannings customer manhandled for ‘shoplifting’

Hong Kong pharmacy chain Mannings has axed a security firm’s contract, with two undercover guards fired, after a customer complained the pair had grabbed her by the neck and backpack and dragged her back to the store claiming she had shoplifted.

Manning said on its Facebook page on Wednesday that the two plain-clothes store detectives were employed by a contracted security company. An investigation found they violated the security company’s code of conduct.

The company’s contract was immediately terminated and the two security guards were fired, it added.

Mannings said it “sincerely apologised for the distress caused to Miss Leung [the customer] and is committed to continuous improvement”.

Leung said in a social media post on Tuesday that she had visited a Mannings’ branch on Cameron Road in Tsim Sha Tsui in the morning and bought two bottles of “King To Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa”, a herbal cough syrup, for HK$80.

She said she paid at a self-checkout counter and left the shop. But about 50 metres (160 feet) from the shop, she was accosted by two women who accused her of stealing items.