"The Person You Described Has Appeared"... Habitual Electric Wire Thief Arrested Thanks to Citizen Tip

A reward was given to the tipster

A man in his 50s who was stealing electric wires from construction sites in the Yangju area of Gyeonggi Province was arrested by police thanks to a tip-off from a citizen.

Thief caught at the construction site. Yangju Police Station

According to Yonhap News Agency on July 18, the Yangju Police Station announced that they arrested and detained a man in his 50s, referred to as Mr. A, on suspicion of theft and sent his case to the prosecution on June 5. Mr. A is accused of cutting and stealing electric wires from construction sites in Yangju on three separate occasions between August of last year and March of this year. The total length of wires Mr. A stole from two construction sites and resold amounted to 340 meters, with an estimated value of approximately 1 million won.

The Violent Crimes Division 1 of the Yangju Police Station, which was investigating the case, identified locations that Mr. A frequented through closed-circuit television (CCTV) and other analyses. Police also confirmed that he often visited a nearby supermarket, so they provided the supermarket owner with a description of Mr. A and asked to be notified if he was spotted.

On May 29, the supermarket owner saw Mr. A enter the store and contacted the officer in charge, saying, "The person you described has appeared." The owner then provided the number and direction of the bus Mr. A boarded after leaving the store.

The officer immediately responded to the tip, pursued the corresponding bus, and apprehended Mr. A on the bus about 10 minutes after the report was made.

According to the police investigation, Mr. A was already wanted for failing to pay a fine of 1.5 million won. Yangju Police Station reported that they awarded a reward of 600,000 won to the supermarket owner who assisted in the arrest.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.