[Herald DB]
[Herald DB]

A group of six people who posed as police officers, broke into an officetel and assaulted an online gambling site operator before fleeing with cash and valuables has been arrested.

The Daejeon Seo Police Station booked six suspects, including a man in his 30s identified as A, on charges of robbery causing bodily harm, according to Yonhap Friday.

A and the others are accused of breaking into an officetel in Mannyeon-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon, at around 2 a.m. on July 10, assaulting B, a man in his 20s who ran an online gambling site, and stealing 32.3 million won ($23,200) in cash and valuables before fleeing.

Police said the suspects, all in their 20s and 30s, had gathered intelligence — centered on A — that a business collecting large sums of money, namely an online gambling operation, was based in Daejeon, and planned the crime accordingly.

They impersonated police investigators to gain entry to the officetel office, where they assaulted B and made off with the cash and valuables.

Police launched an investigation and tracked the suspects' movements, apprehending four of them before capturing the remaining two — after a two-week manhunt — in Daejeon and Okcheon, North Chungcheong Province, respectively. All six were then placed in detention. The investigation found the suspects were neighborhood acquaintances connected as seniors and juniors.

Police seized crime tools and 20.1 million won in recovered cash from the suspects.


choigo@heraldcorp.com