Cops glimpse face of owner of abandoned billion

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Cops glimpse face of owner of abandoned billion

Police investigating 1 billion won ($885,426) abandoned in two safety deposit boxes in Seoul said they secured CCTV records that show the man who left the money.

Yeongdeungpo Police said that after examining 15 CCTVs installed around the private safety deposit box center in Yeouido, Seoul, they found three records that captured images of the man who rented the boxes under the name of Kang.

Police started investigating the case after the center’s owner contacted them Wednesday saying he was moving his business and one safety deposit box renter hadn’t emptied his boxes. The owner thought they might contain explosives, but police discovered 200 million won in 10,000 won bills and 800 million won in 50,000 won bills.

Police said the boxes were rented by a man who gave the name “Kang” last August.

Three men were captured in CCTV footage from last August.

Kang, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and black pants, is seen carrying a carton into the shop. Police said he is 174 centimeters (5 feet, 7 inches) tall and looked to be in his 30s. The man wasn’t wearing a cap so investigators saw his face in the CCTV records.

A second man carrying a second carton was a staff member of the shop. The third may have been Kang’s partner, police said.

“Although we secured CCTV records that show [Kang’s] face, it will take a while to find his identity and whereabouts,” an investigator with the Yeongdeungpo Police said.

Police said they also finished identifying subscribers of three mobile phone numbers Kang gave when he rented the boxes. Of the three subscribers, one was dead, another is a homeless man, while the third is a day laborer on a construction site.

Police said all the phones are Daepo phones, which are phones registered under fake, stolen or borrowed identities.

The laborer told police that he received a text message offering him 100,000 won to subscribe to a phone under his name for someone else’s use. He did and surrendered the phone to a young man at Bucheon Station, Gyeonggi, police said. They didn’t say when this occurred.

Police will question the store where the laborer said he bought the phone.


By Kim Mi-ju, Song Ji-hye [mijukim@joongang.co.kr]
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