‘Frequent-flier’ burglars who preyed on wealthy Beijingers brought down by police
PUBLISHED : Monday, 09 February, 2015, 5:28pm
UPDATED : Monday, 09 February, 2015, 5:30pm
Stephen Chen [email protected]
Alleged gang of 14 frequent-flier burglars, who targeted homes of Beijing’s wealthy residents, netted them more than a million yuan in three months. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese police have caught an alleged gang of 14 frequent-flier burglars, whose trips targeting the homes of Beijing’s wealthy residents netted them more than a million yuan (HK$1.2 million) in three months.
Beijing’s municipal police arrested the suspects last month, who allegedly paid more than 2,000 yuan for regular return flights from Guizhou province before stealing valuables from more than 70 properties in up-market areas of the capital, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.
Police were initially baffled by the burglaries.
However, detectives got a lucky break after noticing that the travel dates of one frequent flier travelling between Beijing and the Guizhou city of Tongren matched those of the break-ins.
Many of the burglaries were reported soon after the traveller landed in Beijing, while the locations of the break-ins were also close to the hotel where he stayed.
The suspect led police to the other alleged members of the gang in Tongren, who police believe were responsible for all the burglaries.
The elusiveness of the suspects owed much to their practice of flying out of Beijing by aircraft, police said.
Usually the suspects stayed in Beijing for only a few days and would take the first available flight back to Guizhou after selling the stolen items.
Police said the suspects had allegedly stolen goods worth more than a million yuan from burglaries in Beijing between October and December.
The alleged gang members targeted only the homes of rich people in new residential developments, police said.
Properties on the developments were usually quite empty, which reduced the chance of the alleged burglars being caught, Xinhua reported.
Sometimes they also broke into apartments in old buildings that had poor security.
It was not reported how much profit the alleged burglars made after covering the all their travelling expenses.
Police did not reveal the number of flights the gang members took, Xinhua reported.
