Male burglar disguised as woman fails to fool police
The suspect of several burglaries in Pudong, beginning at the end of last year, has been detained, police said on Wednesday.
The man, a 39-year-old surnamed Zhu, dressed up as a woman when committing the crimes, but that didn’t help him pull the wool over the eyes of police.
Several burglaries have been reported in the Luoshan and Huamu areas since December last year in which the suspect broke into homes in the evening through windows.
In all cases, a “young woman” with short hair was spotted on surveillance cameras in the vicinity around the time of the burglaries. But police soon began to suspect it was in fact a man when they noticed "she" had an obvious Adam's apple.
Zhu (right) caught by police and him (left) caught on a surveillance camera in a residential complex in Pudong.
Meanwhile, police found that biological traces left behind by the suspect matched those of a man, surnamed Zhu, who has served time in jail before for theft. Zhu was established as the suspect.
In July, Zhu appeared again in a residential complex disguised as a woman — this time US$10,000 and some watches and packs of cigarettes were reported missing from an apartment there, police said.
Supposing that Zhu would need to exchange the foreign cash into yuan, police investigated foreign exchange places for clues. They were told at one such place in the Sanlin area that a “woman” came to them with a large amount of money but didn't know its origin.
Police soon caught up with Zhu and took him into custody.
Zhu allegedly confessed that he also used the same methods to commit burglaries in Baoshan and Yangpu districts.
Police said investigation is still underway.
