Chinese police detain suspect in decades-old robbery cold case
Forensic evidence places man at scene of shooting death during jewellery store thefts
Zhejiang police on Wednesday detained a 45-year-old man suspected of being responsible for a series of jewellery shop robberies 22 years ago that resulted in two deaths.
Details of what led to the breakthrough on the cold case were unclear but the man was caught in a card game parlour in a residential area in Zhuji, the Qiangjiang Evening News reported. A forensic comparison showed he was suspected of a series of armed robberies in the province 22 years earlier.
The first known case was the robbery of a jewellery shop in Ningming at night in December 1995, when the culprit shot dead two patrolling guards and stole 11 kilograms of gold worth 1.6 million yuan at the time (about US$230,000 at today’s rate).
Three years later, a man entered a department store in Ningbo and hid near a jewellery counter until he was spotted by a guard. He shot the guard when fleeing, but the guard lived.
Two more jewellery shops were broken into in 2004 and 2007 but both attempted robberies were unsuccessful and the culprit fled.
Despite the thief leaving tools and weapons, including a home-made grenade, at the scene and being caught on security camera footage, no suspect had been identified until Wednesday.
A retired policeman who had worked on the robberies investigation said they always considered the suspect to be a young man, who had probably served in the army and planned his crimes carefully.
The policeman said the suspect would have been caught much earlier had use of social media been widespread at that time, so the public could help identify the man.
A shop assistant at the first jewellery shop robbed said the shop had to close because of its financial loss and one month of closure during the investigation.
