Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
AsiaWire
This video shows a brazen Chinese man who police say sneaked into an empty shopping centre during the coronavirus outbreak and lived there for two weeks by eating and drinking in abandoned restaurants.
The suspect identified only as Mr Wu, from the city of Tongling in Anhui Province in East China, was finally caught when restaurant staff returned and reported some of their stock missing from their kitchen.
Authorities with Changjiang Road Police Station said Mr Wu stayed in the shopping centre for two weeks in February when similar hotspots were ordered to close in order to stop the spread of the deadly virus known as COVID-19.
With no one in the shopping centres, Mr Wu sneaked in and discovered he was in fact able to live off all the goods left behind.
A review of the building’s surveillance footage revealed Mr Wu rummaging through drawers and taking items for personal use.
One restaurant’s CCTV camera caught him making himself an egg in a darkened kitchen.
Fang Xin, one of the officers who arrested Mr Wu at the shopping centre, said: “Because of the outbreak, all commercial venues are shut.
“Food and drink were often left inside restaurants, which no longer had any staff to maintain them.
“He stayed there for about half a month, going from shop to shop, and finding different things to eat or cook for himself.
“He would then find a corner to sleep in.
“He said he wasn’t able to make a living during the outbreak, then he discovered this place.”
The authorities did not say what Mr Wu usually does for a living.
His two-week stay cost restaurants roughly 2,000 RMB (220 GBP), the police reported.
It was not immediately clear whether Mr Wu would be punished for what he did.
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