Couple caught stealing at Shanghai shopping center
The female suspect caught on one of the store's surveillance cameras
The two suspects being questioned by a police officer at the store
A young couple have been detained for allegedly stealing apparel from shopping centers in Shanghai, police said on Monday.
Police in the Pudong New Area received a report from staff of Shanghai Village, a luxury outlet store located at Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone, on February 7.
Staff claimed that the couple, a man surnamed Ji and a woman surnamed Cai, whom they stopped from leaving the store, "probably" committed the theft.
That morning, staff found several security tags on clothing left in the fitting rooms and stepped up patrols and monitoring, but the same thing happened again that afternoon, police said.
Since the man and woman were found to have spent a long time in fitting rooms, staff stopped them and suspected that they were stealing from the store.
The two quickly confessed when police questioned them at the store, but the two couldn’t agree on how they came to Shanghai from out of town – one said by train and the other said they drove, police said.
Police soon found their car in a nearby parking lot, and discovered more stolen clothing they stole from a similar shopping center in Qingpu District, police said.
The apparel they allegedly stole was worth over 3,000 yuan (US$443), police said.
