Shanghai?police escorted four men allegedly responsible for
Sunday's jewelry store robbery back to Shanghai from Guangdong
Province yesterday afternoon.
In cooperation with their counterparts in Guangdong, local
police seized the suspects on an expressway entrance in Dongguan on
Thursday.
Police also recovered the stolen jewelry worth about 800,000
yuan (US$98,765) and a vehicle allegedly used by the suspects.
The four men, all from Shaoyang, Hunan Province, allegedly made
off with three safes containing gold jewelry from Lao Miao Gold
Jewelry Zhenxin outlet in Jiading District on Sunday.
They waited in a black sedan near the store until an employee
surnamed Zhang opened the shop's door, according to Guo Jianxin,
director of the General Team of Shanghai Criminal
Investigation.
Three of the suspects allegedly snuck into the shop when the
employee went to the second floor. He returned a minute later to
find the suspected robbers.
The men quickly tied up Zhang and fled with the jewelry.
About 45 minutes later another employee arrived, Guo said.
Police responded and gathered tips via interviews with nearby
residents and surveillance videos.
"We assumed the suspects might hail from Hunan Province based on
the license plate number of the vehicle," Guo said. "They were very
likely to reside in Jiading District as the 24 jewel trays of the
three safes were discovered at a creek about 10 kilometers from the
store."
On Tuesday, a resident reported that a man named Shu Juncai came
to the area in a black sedan with three men on March 1. They asked
about the jewelry store.
"The black sedan was spotted in front of the jewelry shop on
March 2 and 3," Guo said.
Investigators soon targeted Shu, 33, who did odd jobs in
Nanxiang Town, Jiading District, since 2004.
A special task force was dispatched to Guangdong on Wednesday
when officers were alerted that Shu as well as his three
accomplices Mo Xiong, Lu Chengjun and Lu Congjun were in the
southern province.
(Shanghai Daily March 11, 2006)