Snake bites

AS temperatures rise in Shenzhen, snakes in the city are becoming active. Doctors at Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Hospital said that they had received five patients with snake bites in the past week.

The city’s emergency hotline, 120, received eight reports from residents who had been bitten by poisonous snakes in the 10 days from July 11 to 20 last year, statistics from the city’s emergency center show.

There are up to 40 kinds of snakes in Shenzhen. Snakes can become agitated and more aggressive during the hot summer months, causing them to release more venom when they bite, experts said.

Car decoder

THREE suspects were recently caught by police in Longgang District for allegedly stealing from vehicles parked in parking lots of supermarkets by using car decoders they had bought online.

A driver surnamed Chen made a report to the police April 8, saying that he had found that after shopping at a supermarket in Bantian Subdistrict, 7,000 yuan (US$1,015) and HK$4,500 (US$579) in cash, a diamond ring valued at 50,000 yuan and a jade pendant worth 10,000 yuan were missing from his car.

Chen’s car was not damaged, nor could Chen provide any clues to the police, leading the officers to conclude that the thieves might have used a car decoder to commit the crime. The police caught the three suspects last week.

The suspects, who have been involved in a number of such thefts, were put under criminal detention.