Xinhua News Agency, Xi'an (Reporters Ning Jun and Cheng Bin) - After smashing the rear windshield of a BMW and stealing a bank card with a balance of one million yuan, Duo Jianguo colluded with his brother to go on a shopping spree at a mall, spending 590,000 yuan on gold jewelry, and subsequently burying most of the gold in a graveyard. Yesterday, Duo Jianguo and his brother were sentenced to 14 years and 6 years in prison, respectively.
At 1:00 AM on September 14, 2008, the rear windshield of a BMW parked in front of the A Luo Hotel on Nanxin Street in Xi'an was smashed. A black men's shoulder bag containing 20,000 yuan in cash and several bank cards was stolen from inside the car. One of the bank cards had a balance of 1,014,000 yuan. Investigations by the Xin Cheng police revealed that the thieves first withdrew 19,000 yuan from an ATM machine and then, at 9:18 AM the same morning, purchased 140,000 yuan worth of gold medals at the "Lao Feng Xiang" counter in the Ai Jia Supermarket at Tu Men. At around 10:00 AM, they made two more purchases of gold at the "Lao Feng Xiang" counter in Kai Yuan Mall, spending a total of 450,000 yuan.
After the case broke, the police extracted blurry images of the suspects who used the stolen bank card to buy gold from the aforementioned malls. On September 17, 2008, the police identified the brothers Duo Jianguo and Duo Jian dang as the ones responsible for the extravagant gold purchases. In the early hours of December 13, 2008, the 33-year-old Duo Jianguo and his 40-year-old brother Duo Jian dang were arrested in Hanzhong. According to their confessions, on the evening of September 13, 2008, while riding his motorcycle past Nanxin Street, Duo Jianguo noticed a bag inside a BMW parked there. At around midnight the next day, he shattered the rear windshield with a slingshot and steel beads, took the bag, and easily guessed the bank card password. Subsequently, he and his brother Duo Jian dang went on a gold-buying spree at the mall. Concerned about being caught if they carried large amounts of gold, they buried 1.7 kilograms of the gold in a graveyard in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an.
On September 1, 2008, Duo Jianguo also colluded with Guan Xiong (who has already been sent to labor camp) to smash the rear windshield of a Toyota car parked in front of a restaurant on Zhuque Road in Xi'an using a slingshot, stealing a handbag containing jade pendants and clothing. It was determined that the total amount stolen by Duo Jianguo amounted to 628,300 yuan.
Yesterday morning, the Xin Cheng District Court sentenced Duo Jianguo to 14 years in prison and fined him 20,000 yuan for theft. His brother Duo Jian dang was sentenced to six years in prison.