As the price of gold broke through the $4900 per ounce mark, a robbery occurred at a gold shop in Pingtan, Fujian. Two robbers, a man and a woman, committed the crime, with the man even using an electric baton to shock the shop owner before fleeing with stolen jewelry.
According to a report from the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone Public Security Bureau on January 23, on January 18 around 9:40 pm, a gold shop in Haitan Street of the zone experienced a robbery where gold products were stolen. The suspects, Lin (male, 34 years old, from Pingtan) and Liu (female, 37 years old, from Pingtan), were arrested on January 22, and the case is currently under investigation.
Surveillance footage released earlier showed a man wearing a helmet squeezing through the closing shutter of the gold shop, holding a glowing electric baton as he entered. He swiftly climbed over a counter over 1 meter tall, chasing and attacking the female shop owner. During her attempt to escape, the shop owner was physically assaulted and shocked with electricity, screaming for help, but the perpetrator continued to pursue and shock her for several minutes. Eventually, the female shop owner was subdued, the suspect smashed two display cases, grabbed the jewelry, and escaped under the shutter.
According to reports in Chinese media, the shop owner, Ms. Han, stated, “He took away an entire row of counters’ worth of goods, totaling nearly two million RMB, and he fractured my ribs.”