A man in his 40s who used a motorcycle to snatch a pedestrian's money bag and flee in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, was caught by police. The investigation found the perpetrator and the victim were longtime friends.
Bundang Police Station in Gyeonggi Province said on the 30th that it booked a person identified as A without detention on suspicion of theft and is investigating. A is accused of riding a motorcycle and grabbing a money bag from the hand of a man in his 40s, identified as B, on a road in a dwellings area in Yatap-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, at about 4 p.m. on the 29th before fleeing.
At the time, the bag contained 850 million won in cash that B had just withdrawn from a bank. A police investigation found the two were close friends, and A had learned in advance that B would withdraw a large amount of cash and move near Yatap-dong, then planned the crime.
At the time of the crime, B did not recognize A, who suddenly appeared wearing a helmet, and immediately called police. When officers who arrived at the scene asked, "Is there anyone around you who knows you are withdrawing a lump sum?" B then thought of friend A and called. After answering the friend's call, A admitted to the crime, reportedly saying it was "just a prank."
A later returned to the scene and handed back the money as is, and police escorted A voluntarily and formally booked A on theft charges. In particular, the motorcycle used in the crime was not A's but borrowed from someone else, making whether the act was intentional a key focus of the investigation.
A police official said, "The two are close friends, the perpetrator claims it was a prank, and the victim also says he does not want punishment," but added, "However, given that the suspect borrowed a motorcycle and approached in a planned way, it is hard to conclude there was no intent to steal at all, so we are closely examining the specific circumstances of the crime."