Six suspects investigated over failed clinic robbery

The police are investigating six men who are believed to have attempted to rob a plastic surgery clinic on Thursday in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.

According to the Gangnam Police Precinct, two of the suspects allegedly stayed outside to keep watch while the other four, armed with weapons, walked into the clinic, proceeded to threaten five employees there and bound their hands together with cable ties, demanding money and valuables. The police did not specify what type of weapons the suspects were carrying.

The suspects tied up the clinic’s 48-year-old director in his office, though he managed to unfasten the cable ties around his wrists and escape out of the clinic’s second-floor window.

The man broke his wrist and his hipbone when he fell to the ground and is currently receiving medical treatment.

Taken aback by his escape, the robbers failed to take anything and fled, authorities said.

Later that day, the police arrested three of them at the Seoul Express Bus Terminal in Seocho District, southern Seoul. One of the suspects, surnamed Kim, 40, who is believed to have led the robbery, turned himself in.

The remaining two turned themselves in yesterday to police in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang.

According to authorities, the suspects confessed that they have never met before and even used fake names in their circle to avoid being traced or followed.

The men said they decided to organize the robbery after they all responded to a post Kim left on a job-hunting website seeking out people who were desperate for money.

The police said the men agreed to rob a plastic surgery clinic in Seoul, which presumably has a lot of cash on hand, and decided upon wearing suits to masquerade as gangsters.

They allegedly visited the clinic in advance to make sure there were no security guards and acquired weapons before the incident.

About 40 minutes before the robbery, one of the suspects posed as a client and made a reservation at the clinic, authorities added.

The Gangnam Police Precinct yesterday requested detention warrants for Kim and three other suspects they arrested on charges of armed robbery.

The Gyeongsan Police Precinct will decide whether it will request detention warrants for the two other suspects after conducting a more thorough investigation.

BY KIM BONG-MOON AND LEE SEUNG-HO [bongmoon@joongang.co.kr]