[Anchor]

A man in his 20s has been arrested by police for breaking into a jewelry store inside a large hypermarket in the middle of the night and stealing valuables worth around 500 million won. CCTV footage capturing the scene clearly shows him smashing display cases and fleeing with precious metals in an instant.

Reporter Im Jihyeon has the details.

[Reporter]

At 2:00 a.m. on Monday (September 14), a man wearing a black rain poncho and a mask covering his face enters a jewelry store at a large hypermarket in Incheon.

After lurking around display cases covered with dark cloth, he suddenly pulls out an electric kettle and repeatedly strikes the glass.

The display case soon opens, and the man hastily stuffs jewelry into a plastic bag he brought with him.

It took just about five minutes for the man in his 20s, surnamed A, to break into the store and make his escape. He stole 173 pieces of jewelry worth approximately 500 million won.

While the large hypermarket usually locks its doors at 10:00 p.m., A reportedly sneaked in by finding an unlocked door.

Receiving the report immediately after the incident occurred, the police carried out an emergency arrest of A on a street in Hwagok-dong, Seoul, 12 hours later.

[Lee Byeong-cheol / Head of the Detective Division, Incheon Namdong Police Station: We were dispatched to the scene promptly, conducted on-site forensics while tracking the suspect's escape route, and recovered all of the stolen goods at the arrest site.]

Appearing at court today for his pre-trial suspect interrogation, A stated, "I didn't have a job, so I needed living expenses."

[Suspect A: (Is there a reason you targeted the hypermarket jewelry store?) I needed money and searched on Naver, and that place popped up, so I went there.]

The police plan to hand the case over to the prosecution after further investigating how A entered the closed hypermarket after business hours and whether there were any other criminal motives.

(Video by: Lee Chan-soo | Video Editing by: Oh Young-taek)