THREE suspects have been arrested for allegedly stealing amber products worth nearly 3 million yuan (US$434,783) from Songgang Amber International Trade Market early last month, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

A total of 108 high-end amber products with a market value of 2.8 million yuan have been retrieved and were returned to the owner, an amber trader surnamed Kou at the Songgang market, yesterday morning.

Kou said he found that most of his amber products had gone missing when he opened his store at around noon Nov. 4.

According to a surveillance camera in the market, a man with a lunch box and a bag of bananas walked straight to Kou’s store after the market opened for business at around 9:30 a.m. Nov. 4. He was seen placing his bag on the counter of Kou’s store, and within two to three minutes he had managed to pick the lock, steal all of the amber inside the counter and leave.

According to the Bao’an police, the thief, surnamed Li, then took an electric car to a bus station where he boarded a bus to Longhua, from where he took a taxi to Longgang and then went to Dongguan. Li was caught the next day in Guangzhou.

Li said that he went to Dongguan to hand the amber over to his accomplice, who was arrested in Xinning on Nov. 13.

On the same day, another suspect who helped Li get to the market was also caught by police in Dongguan City.

(Wang Jingli)