INCHEON — A man in his 20s who stole gold jewelry worth about 500 million won ($360,000) from a jewelry counter inside a large discount store appeared in court on the 16th. The suspect, identified only as A, appeared at the Incheon District Court in the afternoon for a hearing on whether to issue an arrest warrant. He faces charges of nighttime burglary.
On his way into the court, A told reporters that he committed the crime because of financial hardship. Asked why he chose a large discount store, he said he had searched online portals after finding himself in need of money and then went to the site. Asked whether he had acted alone, he said he had.
A broke into the jewelry counter on the second floor of the Homeplus Ganseok branch in Namdong District, Incheon, at around 2 a.m. on the 14th. He smashed the glass of a display case with a coffee pot found inside the store and took 173 gold bracelets in 14- and 18-karat gold. The store owner estimated the losses at about 500 million won.
A entered the second-floor counter through a first-floor window after the store had closed for the day. He wore a hooded rain jacket and a face mask during the break-in. He remained inside the store for about 10 minutes, and the theft itself took about a minute and a half, police said. The store and the jewelry counter had contracts with a private security firm, but the intrusion was not prevented.
After reviewing closed-circuit television footage, police arrested A on a street in Hwagok-dong, Gangseo District, Seoul, at about 2:43 p.m. the same day, roughly 12 hours after the break-in. All 173 pieces of stolen jewelry were recovered at the scene. Citing signs that the site had been scouted in advance, police are investigating whether an insider or an accomplice was involved, despite A's claim that he acted alone. A decision on whether to detain him was expected late in the day.
