Intern reporter Xu Sige - In a single night, approximately 90 famous watches including Patek Philippe, Mynaa, and Longines stored by a company vanished without a trace. Together with the watches, jadeite, ivory, teapots, stamp albums, "Da Hongpao" (a type of tea) and other valuable items were also stolen. More outrageously, the audacious thief defecated at the crime scene. After 36 hours, on the evening of January 8th, the thief was finally apprehended. Seeing the large table full of recovered stolen goods, Ms Wei, the manager of the robbed company, couldn't help but burst into tears...
Yesterday morning, this reporter from the Morning Post saw the suspect Tang in the detention center. Tang revealed that he originally intended to sell the stolen watches for a hundred yuan each, but never expected to be caught so quickly.
A lapse in attention costs 2 million yuan worth of property
Ms Wei's trading company is located on the third floor of a business building on KaiXuan Road, mainly dealing in watch trade, with its office and warehouse on the same floor. On January 6th, Ms Wei had planned to ship out some goods, but due to minor issues in the transportation process, she temporarily placed the goods inside the company. "Since it's just for one night, I didn't lock them in the safe."
On Saturday morning, employees came to the company ready to ship out the goods, only to find the room in disarray. Ms Wei's office seemed as if it had been ransacked, all sizes of drawers were turned upside down, and things were scattered all over the floor, making it almost impossible to move around. Even worse, the thief defecated at the scene, making the entire office stink.
After inventorying, about 90 branded watches, dozens of valuable pieces of jewelry, two stamp albums, a teapot, a box of tea, and more were stolen. Also missing was a dark-colored suitcase, leading Ms Wei to suspect that the thief took the items away in the suitcase. Preliminary estimates valued the lost items at around 2 million yuan. "I should have put them in the safe!" Ms Wei regretted deeply, her small oversight causing such a great loss.
A teapot exposes the suspect's identity
After the incident, Ms Wei immediately reported it to the police. The Xinhua Road Police Station of Changning District responded promptly, arriving at the scene. Officers analyzed that the suspect likely climbed up via the air conditioning units on the first and second floors, entered through the window to commit theft, and fled on foot with the stolen goods. By reviewing street surveillance footage, officers found an image of a man dragging a suspicious suitcase walking on the streets near the crime scene at around 3:30 am on January 7th, and tracked him to a roadside inn where the man checked in. However, when the police arrived at the inn, they discovered that the man had already checked out early on January 8th. "He stayed here for about a month, claiming he came to Shanghai to accompany a friend who was sick," recalled the inn staff. Following this lead, officers investigated nearby hospitals and locked onto one hospital, judging that the suspect likely hid within the hospital under the guise of accompanying a patient at night.
To avoid alarming the suspect, the police changed into plain clothes and sought assistance from medical staff to understand the patients' conditions. During the search, officers noticed a plainly dressed middle-aged man holding an exquisite teapot drinking "Da Hongpao." This teapot resembled the stolen item in shape, and the type of tea being brewed matched the stolen goods. Upon closer inspection, officers faintly spotted a dark-colored suitcase under the bed.
It's him! The police acted decisively, pinning him down on the bed, successfully controlling the suspect.
Accompanying a friend to see a doctor while not forgetting to steal
Upon arrest, the suspect Tang confessed to his crime of breaking into the trading company in the early hours of January 7th, and also admitted to two other break-ins committed in Xuhui District after arriving in Shanghai on December 9th last year.
According to reports, Tang is 42 years old and was released from prison just four months ago. On December 9th last year, Tang accompanied a friend to Shanghai for medical treatment, spending his days at the hospital with his friend, and looking for targets to steal from on weekends nights. Due to unfamiliarity with Shanghai's terrain, Tang could only target business buildings on major roads. "Generally, I would choose places with aluminum sliding windows because they can be easily opened with a little force," Tang said, adding that he did not expect the stolen goods to be so valuable. But because he could not find a way to fence the goods, he could only give the stolen branded wallets to his sick friend, using the stolen computer to watch discs and play games. "I really like this teapot, so I used it to drink tea, and ended up getting caught because of it."
When the officers returned Tang's ID card and mobile phone, Tang bitterly shook his head, "No need, I probably won't be using these for the next few decades."
Currently, suspect Tang has been criminally detained by the Changning police, and the case is under further investigation and review.
Changning police remind all enterprises and institutions: Enhance prevention awareness, make sure to close and lock doors and windows when leaving work, especially with the Spring Festival approaching, most employees will return home for the New Year, and must carefully check the condition of doors and windows before leaving the unit; large amounts of cash should be deposited in banks whenever possible, valuable items must be locked in safes that are securely anchored; meanwhile, property security or gate security should strengthen nighttime patrols.
[Dialogue with the Suspect]
Unable to read English packaging, left diamonds behind
Yesterday afternoon, this reporter met the suspect Tang at the Changning Detention Center. He is of average build, with dark skin, a red birthmark on his left face, wearing thick cotton clothes and pants, sitting in the interrogation room with a blank expression and vacant eyes.
Morning Post (hereafter referred to as MP): Did you specifically target the company on the third floor when choosing that building?
Tang (hereafter referred to as T): That night, I walked along KaiXuan Road and noticed that the second and third floors of this business building did not have anti-theft windows installed. Moreover, the aluminum sliding windows seemed unlocked, with a gap left open. So, I stepped on the air conditioner unit on the first floor to climb up to the second floor, seeing only desks and chairs inside, which didn't seem to have anything valuable. Then I climbed up the air conditioner unit on the second floor to enter the third floor.
MP: Surveillance showed you entered the company on the third floor at around 11 pm and left at around 3:30 am. What were you doing during those four hours?
T: After entering, I found that the warehouse was filled with watches, so I opened every box, taking a few out. Then I went to the office, finding quite a lot of valuable items, so I opened the cabinets and rummaged through everything. Actually, by around 1 am, I had finished. Afterwards, I played on the computer, drank tea, and smoked in the office.
MP: Why did you leave the diamonds in the office untouched and instead stole the bulky and heavy stamp albums and teapots?
T: The diamond packaging was all in English, which I couldn't read. I've always liked collectibles, artworks, and jadeite.
MP: Why did you defecate at the scene after stealing?
T: It's an old saying from my hometown, if you defecate after stealing, you won't get caught. But I didn't expect to be caught by the police the next day.
MP: How did you plan to handle the stolen goods?
T: I might have sold the watches randomly. Even if I sold them for a hundred yuan each, I would still do it.
MP: Now that you've been caught, how do you feel?
T: I was scared and regretful, but now it's too late to say anything. However, I'm really surprised by how capable the Shanghai police are.