Police in Xiangtan, Central China's Hunan Province, recently caught a thief who had returned most of the money he had stolen from an old man. When asked why he returned it, the thief replied, "It might be his life savings." Photo: screenshot of KK News on Sina Weibo.

 

Police in Xiangtan, Central China's Hunan Province, recently caught a thief who had returned most of the money he had stolen from an old man. When they asked why he returned it, the thief replied, "It might be his life savings."

Footage from a surveillance video showed the thief following an old man on the bus and sitting behind him. He then took the old man's bag and found 8,000 yuan ($1,233) in cash inside. Hesitated for a while, he took 500 yuan before stuffing the rest of it back inside and leaving. 

As soon as the old man got home, he realized that the money was missing and called the police, who soon caught the thief. When asked why he committed the crime and then "refunded" most of it, the thief replied that he didn't want to steal what might be the old man's life savings, and was worried that taking too much might aggravate his crime. However, the police did not buy his story. "Stealing is an act that is categorized as a crime, however much money is involved," a police officer said in a video circulating online.

Global Times