Shanghai police escorted four men allegedly responsible for Sunday's jewelry store robbery back to Shanghai from Guangdong Province yesterday afternoon.

 

In cooperation with their counterparts in Guangdong, local police seized the suspects on an expressway entrance in Dongguan on Thursday.

 

Police also recovered the stolen jewelry worth about 800,000 yuan (US$98,765) and a vehicle allegedly used by the suspects.

 

The four men, all from Shaoyang, Hunan Province, allegedly made off with three safes containing gold jewelry from Lao Miao Gold Jewelry Zhenxin outlet in Jiading District on Sunday.

 

They waited in a black sedan near the store until an employee surnamed Zhang opened the shop's door, according to Guo Jianxin, director of the General Team of Shanghai Criminal Investigation.

 

Three of the suspects allegedly snuck into the shop when the employee went to the second floor. He returned a minute later to find the suspected robbers.

 

The men quickly tied up Zhang and fled with the jewelry.

 

About 45 minutes later another employee arrived, Guo said.

 

Police responded and gathered tips via interviews with nearby residents and surveillance videos.

 

"We assumed the suspects might hail from Hunan Province based on the license plate number of the vehicle," Guo said. "They were very likely to reside in Jiading District as the 24 jewel trays of the three safes were discovered at a creek about 10 kilometers from the store."

 

On Tuesday, a resident reported that a man named Shu Juncai came to the area in a black sedan with three men on March 1. They asked about the jewelry store.

 

"The black sedan was spotted in front of the jewelry shop on March 2 and 3," Guo said.

 

Investigators soon targeted Shu, 33, who did odd jobs in Nanxiang Town, Jiading District, since 2004.

 

A special task force was dispatched to Guangdong on Wednesday when officers were alerted that Shu as well as his three accomplices Mo Xiong, Lu Chengjun and Lu Congjun were in the southern province.

 

(Shanghai Daily March 11, 2006)