In an unexpected discovery, a bag of gold jewellery hidden in the ceiling of a rented apartment was identified as stolen property in a theft case in Zhejiang province.
The incident unfolded on 24 October when a man identified as Mr Wu, a resident of Zhejiang’s Kaihua county, contacted police after discovering a bag of unidentified gold jewellery in the ceiling of his rented bathroom while carrying out repairs to a water pipe. The recovered cache of gold jewellery included rings, bracelets and necklaces with an estimated value of over 100,000 yuan ($13,700) and a total weight of over 300 grams.
Police questioned both the landlord, surnamed Hu, and the previous tenant, but neither could provide information about the origin of the gold jewellery. However, the plastic bag containing the jewellery bore an address linked to Hu’s son.
Further investigation revealed that Hu’s son had a history of theft. In 2021, he was arrested by police in Tongxiang, Zhejiang, in connection with a theft case and is currently serving a sentence. Despite his arrest, he has consistently refused to reveal the whereabouts of the stolen items.
A comparison of the confiscated gold jewellery with the descriptions given by the victims in the Tongxiang case confirmed a match. Subsequent verification showed that all the gold items belonged to the victim.
As a result, the police handed over the recovered gold jewellery to the Tongxiang police for further processing and investigation.
