Police have arrested a 20-year-old university student for systematically stealing from the department store where she worked. The suspect, identified as Hwang, started working in the jeans store of a Department Store in Seoul’s Jamsil on Oct. 13, where she had the opportunity to closely observe the store’s security procedures. By Oct. 24, police say, she was ready to start doing what she had come to do, taking advantage of the fact that the store’s security systems and CCTV cameras only operate normally during business hours. In the early morning and late at night she moved freely about all floors of the store.

Hwang would arrive at the store early at around 8 a.m. and then stuff clothes or anything else that caught her fancy into a shopping bag, deposit the bag at her home 2 km away and then return for work at around 9 a.m. At night, once the other staff were gone, she would put on more clothes she liked and simply walk out the door. Shrinkage attributed to Hwang took the form of a W1.6 million (US$1=W939) coat and a W500,000-skirt among some 70 top name brand items police say she made off with. By Oct. 31, Hwang had stolen a total of W30.3 million worth of designer merchandise on 50 occasions.

The suspect was rumbled when she decided to have a jacket she had stolen taken in at the waist and dropped it off at another department store. When the employee there noticed that the coat’s serial number was on the stolen goods list, she called the police. The Seoul Songpa police station have filed for an arrest warrant for theft and are trying to find out if she had any accomplices.

(englishnews@chosun.com )