Gang arrested after robbery

By Xu Fang  |   2008-12-15  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A GANG who robbed a woman of 80,000 yuan (US$11,690) after pushing her from a moped and grabbing her handbag has been arrested by Zhabei District prosecutors.

The gang, all from Jiangxi Province and in their 20s, were allegedly led by two men, called Qiang Hui and Xie Yan.

Both had already served time in prison for robbery. After they were released this year, they came to Shanghai as migrant workers. Here they met the other three members of the gang, Wang Ming, Liu Chi and Liang Chao, and went on a gambling spree but ran out of money.

On October 21, the five allegedly got together in a hotel to plan the robbery. Liu said they should get a car and follow people who drew large sums of money from the bank, police said.

Liu borrowed a red Toyota without a number plate from a friend. On October 24, the five men drove around looking for targets, prosecutors said.

They checked out two banks without any luck, but at a third bank Liu saw a woman withdrawing a large sum of money.

The woman, surnamed Zhu, was the accountant for a kindergarten and had gone to the bank to collect salaries for employees. She withdrew 83,000 yuan and put the cash into a handbag then got on to her moped.

When she got near a market, someone ran into the road and pushed her off her moped. Another man snatched her handbag and both men escaped in a red car, Zhu told prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the two who robbed Zhu were Xie and Wang. After they had completed the robbery, Liang drove to a remote area where they divided the money, police said.

In an attempt to cover up the crime, Liu abandoned the car in Jiangxi Province. But the five men were identified on the bank's security video and rounded up within a week.