Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

AsiaWire / Gulou PSB

This is the moment police officers find a squatter in flats closed for renovation work that was then delayed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The illegal tenant named only as Mr Zhang, 27, broke into the flats and stripped them of items that he could either use or sell for food after realising that the renovation work commissioned by owner Ms Chen was not being carried out because of the virus.

When she found out, she reported him to police in Gulou District in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province in East China.

Police body-worn camera dated 27th February shows the moment Ms Chen leads officers to one of her flats, and officers find Mr Zhang sleeping in one of the beds.

Still in his pyjamas, he springs up as the uniformed police enter the room and begin questioning him.

Mr Zhang broke the locks on every door and moved all the appliances he could find to a single room where he slept, the police said.

He admitted to breaking into the building as early as 25th January as the novel coronavirus rose to become a national crisis in China.

Gulou District Public Security Bureau officer Xu Zikang said: “He took everything he could use – including a microwave, electric hob and fridge – to the room he was using.

“He ate everything he could find in the rooms. When he ran out of money, he stripped television sets and air-conditioning units of their copper wires, selling them to buy rice and noodles.”

The authorities said Mr Zhang lived in another rental flat in the same building last year. He knew the building would be unoccupied after Ms Chen had received orders to renovate her flats in order to meet safety standards.

But the work was then delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Ms Chen, who has yet to estimate her losses, said she was tipped off by a district security guard who noticed the lights of her flats on for two nights in a row.

Mr Zhang remains in custody on theft charges.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.