Society

Runaway thief brings subway to a standstill

By Cang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-27 07:47

BEIJING - Shanghai's subway Line 2 was brought to a standstill for more than 30 minutes due to a thief's attempts to evade arrest on Tuesday morning.

Staff members of subway Line 2 in Shanghai on Tuesday try to climb onto the roof of a train to catch a thief, who refused to come down. [Provided to China Daily]

According to local police, the thief was caught red-handed by a passenger on the subway as the train was heading from People's Square to Lujiazui around 8 am.

As the passenger holding him called the police, the thief managed to escape when the train stopped at a station. The man jumped on to the tracks and climbed on to the roof of a train that had stopped at the other platform.

Staff members at the station and police officers had to climb on to the train to capture him, as he refused to jump down.

The thief stole goods worth 700 yuan ($107), but because his behavior severely disrupted public order he will be given a heavier punishment, the police said.

The electricity to Line 2 was cut while the man was arrested, which caused huge passenger backlogs at People's Square and the Century Boulevard stations for more than half an hour.

The line did not resume normal operations until around 9 am.