A down-on-his-luck entrepreneur has been arrested for stealing smartphones from stores in Shanghai and other cities in eastern China by taking advantage of the annoying clangor of the in-store alarm systems, Changning district police said Thursday.

The suspect, surnamed Liu, from Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, was arrested on May 2 for stealing a smartphone on display at a China Unicom store on Dingxi Road on March 24, according to a press release from the Changning District Public Security Bureau.

Liu was able to leave the store with the stolen phone by tricking employees into turning off the store's alarm system, police said. Liu usually targeted crowded stores that had a lot of phones on display. While pretending to browse the display models, he would repeatedly unhook the anti-theft cables securing the phones, which triggered the store's alarm system. After the alarm went off several times, the store's exasperated staff would usually turn it off, allowing Liu to walk out with a phone.

After examining surveillance camera footage, police spotted Liu stealing a phone at the China Unicom store. They were then able to follow him from the store to Hongqiao Railway Station, where he took a train back to Suzhou. They eventually arrested him at a teahouse.

Liu admitted that he stole mobile phones from stores in Shanghai, as well as Nanjing and Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, police said. He then sold the phones in Suzhou.

Liu had worked as a company manager before resigning to start his own business at the beginning of 2013. When the business failed, he resorted to stealing phones. Liu has remained in custody while police continue their investigation.

Global Times