Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Armored vehicle robbers caught
By Kim Rahn
Police caught Monday three people suspected of stealing 536 million won ($477,000) from an armored vehicle delivering cash to banks on Dec. 31.
One of the suspects, 28-year-old Kim, was an employee of the security company responsible for making the cash deliveries.
Police apprehended the suspects after a tip that one of them, 28-year-old Lee who was recorded committing the crime on the surveillance camera installed inside the vehicle, worked for another private security firm.
Lee has been on the wanted list after police restored the surveillance camera footage although he removed the memory chip of the camera during the robbery.
A tipster told police that Lee’s jacket shown in the footage was the uniform of the other private security firm. Afterward police found out that Kim provided information on the cash delivery, Lee robbed the vehicle, and one of their friends stood guard during the robbery.
They robbed the van parked at the Gumi College campus in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, around 1:30 p.m. while the security guards of the armored vehicle were having lunch.
Police are investigating why they committed the crime and how they spent the money.
With former and incumbent workers of security companies being implicated in the crime, those security firms are drawing public criticism for mismanagement of staff.