Chinese billionaire arrested for bank robbery (Photos)

A powerful property tycoon in China has confessed
to robbing a bank 16 years ago and using the
money to start up his ma$$ive empire now worth
billions.
According to Peoples Daily Online, Shi, the 53-
year-old was arrested last week in the central
China’s Zhumadian city for a crime he committed in
December 1999.At the time five armed suspects
broke into a bank in the city of Zhengzhou, injuring
two clerks and walking away with 2.8 million yuan
(£290,000) in cash.On the morning of October 21,
more than 80 undercover police investigators
rushed to the Zhumadian, Henan province, and
arrested five suspects including billionaire Shi.
Shi is said to be well known in Zhumadian for
being an extremely powerful and successful
property tycoon.
He runs a number of businesses including
industrial real estates, development and trade
companies, and leisure farms. All earning him a
fortune. As well as property, he has billions
invested in local businesses and often hosts
regular charity events. All of this has influenced
the community he lives in.
After he was arrested, Shi admitted to breaking into
the bank armed with four suspects and stealing the
money 16 years ago.
Shi told police, before the robbery in the early
1990’s he was not satisfied with his income as a
construction worker. So he gathered a group of
guys who were working as painters for a ‘secret
job.’
Then for three months leading up to the raid they
hatched a plan to rob the bank which included a
well-designed escape route. Doing so they
seriously injured a man was shot in the head and
left in a pool of blood, and a woman. It is unclear
what happened to her.
The whole process which involved the suspects
dressed as business men took just five minutes.
It was a case that shocked the whole country as no
one has ever been arrested since it took place in
1999.
Many of the investigators working on the case are
now retired but they never gave up. From a list of
158 suspects they eventually narrowed it down to
five.16 years later the Zhengzhou City Public
Security Bureau held a press conference to confirm
the mystery of the 1999 bank robbery had
successfully been solved.
A vital piece of evidence in the investigation was a
hammer that was used to brake the bullet proof gla
$$ during the raid.
The police managed to track down its manufacturer
which led them to a market in Zhengzhou where
they were sold. 24 had been bought in the time
leading up to the robbery.
Investigators tracked down the whereabouts of 16
hammers which left eight unaccounted for, which
eventually led them to the five suspects.The
authorities in Zhengzhou said Shi – a construction
project contractor who regularly hosted charity
events – claimed most of the money from the
robbery and used it to develop his real estate in
the southern Chinese city of Zhumadian, earning
him billions.