Police nip robberies in the bud

Baoshan police

Shanghai police said on Wednesday that they had caught three potential thieves while they were still planning their crimes.

Two men, Feng who lives in Baoshan District and Liu from the Pudong New Area, conspired online with another man, Jia, who lives in Tieling in the northeastern province of Liaoning, to carry out a robbery, police said.

Jia arrived in Shanghai to meet Feng on August 13, and the two were caught by police around midnight the same day in the residential complex where Feng lived. Liu, who concocted the whole idea, was caught in his home in Pudong the next day.

Police said that the three had planned to rob “a rich woman who runs a training company” in Zhejiang Province.

The three suspects have confessed and none had any previous criminal record, police said.

Tang Yi, a police official in Baoshan District, said making preparations for a robbery is a part of the crime. Even if the eventual robbery is not carried out, suspects can still be held responsible.

“Robbery is a serious crime which threatens people's property and physical safety,” he said. “As police officers, we are attempting, as far as possible, to prevent such crimes.”

Shanghai police said that including this case, they apprehended suspects in four cases this year before the planned robberies took place, and have solved all robbery cases reported since 2018. In the first seven months of this year, the number of such cases reported was down 60.1 percent from the same period last year.

The police strive to solve all such cases on the day they are reported.

In one case on July 25 which took place at noon, a worker in a plastic surgery clinic in Changning District was forced by a robber to pay 8,000 yuan (US$1,134) via WeChat, and the suspect was caught six hours later.

In another case on July 3 in the Tangzhen area of Pudong, a mobile phone was stolen at 2am, and the thief was caught four hours later.