[Anchor]

A group has been arrested by police for targeting intoxicated and sleeping passengers on late-night subways to steal their smartphones. Authorities warn that passengers must avoid sitting at the edges of subway cars to protect their phones.

Reporter Kim Gyu-ri has more details.

[Reporter]

Late at night, near a subway station in Seoul, two people exchange a bag containing something.

Police caught the suspects and found they were part of a ring that stole and fenced smartphones from places like the subway.

The crime was carried out in a manner where a man in his 60s, surnamed A, stole the phones and handed them over to a woman in his 70s, surnamed B, who then passed them to a 40-year-old man surnamed C, who acted as a fence.

Police stated that the suspects mainly targeted the phones of passengers who were intoxicated or fast asleep during late-night hours.

At the time of their arrest, they were in possession of nine smartphones, four of which have been returned to their rightful owners after verification.

[Shin Chang-hoon / Chief of Subway Safety and Investigation Unit, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency: In the case of smartphone thieves, since the stolen phones can serve as evidence, they often hand them over to middlemen or fences as quickly as possible, usually by the next day.]

All three suspects are repeat offenders. Police have forwarded A and C to the prosecution in custody while urging caution, noting that falling asleep while intoxicated can make passengers an easy target.

[Choi Ga-yeon / Gangdong-gu, Seoul: I thought that kind of thing mostly happened abroad, and in Korea, people often leave their phones behind even in cafes, so...]

[Lee Ki-sun / Seongdong-gu, Seoul: I tend to doze off a lot on the subway, so hearing that things are being taken like that is pretty surprising, and it makes me wonder if I need to be more careful.]

If you feel overwhelmed by sleep, it is safer to sit in the middle seats rather than the edges, and keeping your phone safely inside a bag rather than holding it in your hand is recommended.

Police stated that they are expanding their investigation to include distributors of stolen smartphones.

(Photo courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency) (Video reporting: Yang Ji-hoon | Video editing: Park Na-young | Design: Im Chan-hyuk)