"Suspicious Smell" Targeted in the Middle of the Night... CCTV Captures 'Chinese Restaurant Terror'

▲ Paint terror captured on store CCTV

Police have launched an investigation after two unidentified individuals broke into a Chinese restaurant in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in the middle of the night, sprayed paint, damaged fixtures, and fled.

According to the Bundang Police Station and other sources today (September 24), the owner of a Chinese restaurant in Bundang-gu, surnamed A, reported to 112 at around 8:30 a.m. today that the store had been vandalized.

When police arrived at the scene, the store's glass windows were smashed, and scratch marks resembling those made by a sharp object were left on the POS terminal at the cashier and on chairs.

Black liquid was sprayed throughout the store, and containers of pesticide and insecticide, believed to have been left by the suspects, were also discovered.

Owner A stated to the police, "The containers were empty, and a suspicious smell is coming from ingredients stored nearby," adding, "It is possible that the suspects sprayed the substance onto the ingredients."

CCTV footage inside the restaurant captured two individuals, presumed to be men wearing masks, breaking through a tempered glass back door at around 2:40 a.m. today and committing the crime for about an hour.

It is reported that the store did not have an alarm system, meaning owner A only learned of the damage after being contacted by the building manager who discovered the scene this morning.

Owner A stated, "There are no suspected individuals in mind," but speculated that the crime may have been committed by people dissatisfied with the restaurant's name, which is identical to the name of a prominent Chinese political figure.

Owner A claimed, "I have been running the restaurant under the same name for eight years, but recently protest calls and visits taking issue with it have frequently occurred," and added, "Two months ago, someone also sprayed black paint on the sign and fled, so I reported it to the police, but was told that tracking was difficult due to limitations in tracing their movements."

Police are tracking down the suspects based on CCTV footage while also completing a forensic examination of the interior of the store, and plan to verify whether pesticides or insecticides were actually sprayed on the food ingredients.

(Photo provided by the victimized store owner, Yonhap News)

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