Chinese smash-and-grab motorbike thieves target luxury car waiting at traffic lights
Foshan police use surveillance footage to track suspects – who used hammer to break vehicle’s window and grab woman’s handbag – and make arrests within hours
Chinese motorbike thieves used a hammer to smash the window of a car waiting at traffic lights and grab the woman driver’s handbag from the seat beside her before escaping, mainland media reported.
Two men targeted the driver of the luxury car as it stopped when traffic lights turned red at a busy junction in Foshan, Guangdong province, at about 2pm, Television Southern, a TV network owned by the Guangdong provincial government, reported.
Traffic surveillance footage screened in the report showed one of the suspects, who had been sitting on the back of the motorbike, approach the car and use the hammer to smash the window beside the front passenger’s seat.
He then grabbed the driver’s handbag from the passenger’s seat, climbed back on the motorbike and the thieves drove off, the report said.
Television Southern said the theft had taken place recently, but did not give precise details.
At the time of the theft, the victim’s car was one of about a dozen vehicles waiting at the traffic lights.
Police searched traffic surveillance recordings close to the junction to track the motorcycle’s movements and arrested two suspects within two hours of the theft. The stolen handbag was also recovered.
The suspects were reportedly planning another crime at the time they were arrested, police said.
The TV report said the thieves had admitted targeting women driving luxury cars, and that they had carried out a number of similar crimes in the past.
Police warned drivers not to leave valuable items lying on the seats of vehicles where they could be seen.
