Story By: Alex Cope, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: AsiaWire Report

Picture Credit: AsiaWire

Two suspected murderers have been arrested almost 22 years after they allegedly killed a motorbike taxi driver by bashing his head in with a brick and stealing his cash.

The motorbike taxi driver, who has not been named in reports, was found dead in October 1997 by the side of a road in an area called Wanli in the Putuo District in the city of Shanghai, Eastern China.

Local media report two men had flagged the taxi driver down and when they reached a quiet area they attacked him, hitting his head with a brick and robbing him.

The two men on the bike had been the prime suspects in the police investigation at the time but they could not be identified.

Cops gathered evidence and reports state that in March a piece of “biological evidence” from the scene was examined using modern techniques and was found to match a man on police records surnamed Du.

Du is said to have previously been arrested for selling stolen goods in Henan Province. A search was launched and Du, 44, was later arrested, reportedly confessing to having attacked the taxi driver to cops.

The other suspect, who has not been named, was arrested in the city of Chengdu in the Sichuan Province.

Du is said to have told investigators that he and the other suspect had moved to Shanghai in October 1997 in order to find work.

However, they are said to have spent all their money in two days without finding jobs and decided to rob the taxi driver for some cash.

He claimed that they did not realise the taxi driver had died in the incident and says they then travelled by train to Nanjing before separating and never seeing each other again.

The case is ongoing and it is unclear if the suspects have been charged.

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