How a goodwill visit helped Chinese police crack a criminal case
Man detained after officers find haul of stolen items on visit to home of bedridden resident
A goodwill visit to the home of a poor family may have helped police in eastern China solve a long-running criminal case, according to a local media report.
Officers in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, visited the home of a man surnamed Lu earlier this month with gifts and cash, Jiangsu Television reported on Sunday.
Lu had been bedridden for years because of severe liver disease and as a result his family had fallen on hard times, the report said.
During the visit, on July 6, one of the police officers was surprised to see several pairs of branded sports shoes in Lu’s home. When he asked about them, Lu said they belonged to his son.
Another officer remembered that a restaurant owner, surnamed Lou, had reported having similar shoes stolen from his premises, so he contacted him and asked him to come to Lu’s home.
“I lost three pairs of shoes, and two pairs of Nikes were exactly what police found in Lu’s home,” Lou said.
Since the end of last year Lou had reported five thefts from his restaurant, of shoes, cash and bottles of spirits with a combined value of about 10,000 yuan (US$1,500), the Yangtse Evening News quoted him as saying.
In a search of Lu’s home police found three pairs of shoes, more than 20 mobile phones, several knives and a number of wallets that did not belong to him, the report said.
Officers later questioned Lu’s son, who was not named, and he confessed to stealing them, the report said.
He was placed in criminal detention pending further investigation.
