"Ran off with the money" Taxi driver texts police after hearing passenger call

Police Responding to Report Use Ingenuity for Voluntary Escort
Turns Out Suspect Wanted for Robbery at Gold Shop in Another Region

Black box footage from the taxi the thief was riding in. [Image source=Yonhap News]

A taxi driver’s suspiciousness about a passenger’s phone conversation and the quick thinking of responding police officers led to the arrest of a suspect wanted for robbing a gold and silver shop, a fact that was revealed later and became a hot topic.

According to Yonhap News on the 13th, the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency received a text report around 11:30 p.m. on the 31st of last month from a taxi driver saying, "The passenger is not paying the fare and I am waiting, but the phone conversation sounds suspicious." At that time, the taxi driver had picked up passenger A (19) from Cheongju, Chungbuk, and brought him to Yongjeon-dong, Dong-gu, Daejeon.

Although A had arrived at the destination, he said "I have no money" and made a phone call to an acquaintance to borrow money to pay the taxi fare. A said to the acquaintance, "I ran off with the gold," and "They haven’t caught me yet? It’s been three days now?" The taxi driver overheard this and found it suspicious, so he reported it via text. Later, the taxi’s black box footage clearly recorded A in the front passenger seat making these statements.

Police who responded to the report saw a photo of A wearing a thick gold bracelet as the background image on his phone and, to resolve the taxi fare issue, took A to the police station voluntarily.

Upon arrival at the police station, officers charged A’s nearly dead phone and contacted police stations and substations in Cheongju, A’s starting point, and nearby Chungbuk areas to inquire about recent gold and silver shop robbery cases.

It turned out that A had fled from a gold and silver shop in Jeungpyeong-gun, Chungbuk, four days earlier on the 27th of last month, wearing gold items including a gold bracelet and gold ring worth approximately 12 million won, and was being pursued by the police. The police identified that A was wanted by the Goesan Police Station in Chungbuk on charges including theft, arrested him, and handed him over to the relevant police station.