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Expatriate thieves tried in Shanghai
By Cao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-27 10:03
SHANGHAI: Eight members of the largest expatriate gang caught in Shanghai
were tried this Monday and Tuesday at Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court.
The 25 suspects, all from South America, are charged with being involved in
three thefts this May, in which a total of 6.13 million yuan (US$730,400) was
stolen. The biggest theft involved stealing diamonds of more than 2,000 carats
from an international jewellery exhibition.
Some of the other 17 members of the gang have already been tried, with a
hearing to be arranged soon for the remainder.
"As the other two groups include underage suspects, the trials are not open
to the public," said an official from the court who wished to remain anonymous.
On May 13, the gang visited a booth at the Shanghai Mart where the Fifth
Shanghai International Jewellery Exhibition was being held.
While one of the suspects was trying to attract the attention of Guo Junxia,
an employee of the Shanghai Jinghua Jewellery Co Ltd, by pretending to be
interested in the diamonds, another one took away a canvas bag under the desk
containing the diamonds, a mobile phone, and around 47,000 yuan (US$5,680) and
HK$200 (US$26) in cash.
"The fact that this incident took place at an international fair has raised
concerns among foreigners about the city's public security situation," said the
prosecutor.
Following the theft, the police immediately set up a special squad and began
to collect information from various sources.
Another theft involving expatriate criminals was reported several days later.
"On the morning of May 17, some members of the gang again conducted a robbery
in the waiting hall of Pudong International Airport," said the prosecutor.
"While five of them were looking around, a suspect purposefully splashed some
yogurt on an Indian jeweller, Vivek Agarwal, and another one took away his
suitcase containing 46,506 carats of gems when the victim was cleaning his
clothes."
The gems are worth nearly 1.6 million yuan (US$193,200).
Later in that evening, two suspects from the gang were first caught, one in a
restaurant in the downtown area and the other in a hotel close to the railway
station.
"In a fax sent by the Hong Kong police, we found the clue - a group of South
American suspects who were attempting thefts at last year's Hong Kong Convention
& Exhibition Centre," said Kong Xianmin, deputy director of the Shanghai
Public Security Bureau.
Shanghai police began to cast eyes on foreign suspects from Central and South
America, and conducted thorough searches in hotels, bars, airports and other
places that foreigners frequently visit.
"The 25 suspects were all captured in two days," said
Kong.
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