Two male suspects, Liu Hui, 35, and Zhao Xueyu, 20, quarreled with a waiter in a local hotel in city and hit the waiter with a pistol. The host became suspicious and sent two of his staff to follow the two men. At the same time, he phoned the police.

The police caught the two suspects 15 minutes later at a small restaurant. The men were carrying a pistol with 18 bullets and a submachine gun with 28 bullets.

Zhao confessed during the questioning that they had plotted to rob the bank vehicle at a local branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Tiexi District.

The two men got to know each other in April 1999. To prepare for the hijacking, they went to a border city in southwest China’s Yunnan Province twice in May and August last year to buy the guns and bullets.

A bank vehicle robbery case, which happened on January 10 this year in the city, caused injuries to two guards and the loss of 785,000 yuan in cash (US$94,200), and the suspects are still at large.

(Xinhua 02/13/2001)