[Anchor]
A teenager has been arrested by police for stealing cash from multiple unmanned stores. Investigations showed that he committed the crimes to pay off debts incurred from online gambling.
Reported by Lee Hyun-jung.
[Reporter]
At an unmanned store in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, last month.
A man wearing a helmet forcefully strikes the padlock attached to an unmanned kiosk with a hammer, opens the safe door, and gathers the paper money.
Another unmanned store nearby.
CCTV cameras are clearly visible right in front of him, but he smashes the kiosk with a hammer regardless.
Police dispatched after receiving reports from affected store owners and witnesses searched the area and spotted the man fleeing on a motorcycle.
When a police car blocked his path, he even abandoned the motorcycle and tried to escape, but was eventually caught hiding in a nearby building parking lot.
[Jeon Min-geun / Investigator, Violent Crimes Team 4, Ilsan Seobuk Police Station: We spotted the suspect driving recklessly. Looking at the suspect waiting at a traffic signal, his physical description matched—the motorcycle helmet, the earphone attached to the motorcycle helmet, and the shoes he was wearing were the same ones worn during the crimes.]
Upon catching him, police found that he was a 16-year-old boy surnamed A, and investigation revealed that he committed the crimes while driving a stolen motorcycle without a license.
Police stated that the cash stolen from a total of 10 locations over three days amounted to about 870,000 won, while the repair costs for the damaged kiosks totaled about 3.8 million won.
Teenager A reportedly stated during police questioning that he committed the crimes to pay off debts accumulated from online gambling.
Teenager A has dropped out of school and is over the age of 14, meaning he does not fall under the category of a juvenile delinquent exempt from criminal punishment.
Police plan to investigate the specific details of the crimes involving teenager A and forward him to prosecutors without detention on charges including special theft, attempted special theft, and driving without a license under the Road Traffic Act.
(Video Editing: Jeong Yong-hwa, Footage courtesy of Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency)
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