The billionaire, Shi Erqun, was arrested on October 21 in Zhumadian City. Three others were apprehended the same day, and a fifth suspect was seized on October 24, said the Public Security Bureau of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan.
On December 5, 1999, Shi, a native of Zhumadian, and four others allegedly robbed a bank branch of 2.08 million yuan (£208,503) in cash.
They shot the bank security guard in the head four times before cracking open the bullet-proof glass in the bank with hammers, according to the Beijing Times.
The suspects then left the bank with three bags of cash. Another female bank employee was also injured during their robbery. Shi is alleged to have masterminded the robbery.
The robbery shocked the nation, but the five suspects had eluded the law ever since.
Shen Baocheng, a police officer in Zhengzhou, said that police encountered a lot of challenges in their investigation, as surveillance footage from the bank was unavailable and they were unable to find a match for the only footprint left at the scene.
Police finally located the suspects using advanced technology in early October.
The five suspects confessed that after they left the bank, they crawled through a wall near a garbage station, and returned to their rented apartment on bikes.
They then went back to Zhumadian, and fled to Yunnan Province before they had a chance to split the money.
Shi, 53, previously a construction project contractor, took most of the money from the robbery and used it to develop real estate in Zhumadian, earning him billions.
He often participated in charity works, the report said.
"In the business circle of Zhumadian, everyone knows that he [Shi] has four women and 12 children," a real estate company manager was quoted by the Dahe Daily as saying.
Source:Xinhua-Global Times
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