Man Steals and Sells 114 Approach Lights at Taiyuan Airport: Caught After 23 Years on the Run
Today, CCTV’s Rule of Law Online released a video titled "The Theft of Hundreds of Approach Lights Endangers Aviation Safety, Big Data Locks Down Fugitive After 23 Years." Twenty-three years ago, a theft occurred at Taiyuan Airport in Shanxi Province. During a patrol, staff discovered 30 approach lights were missing, followed by another 84 stolen a few days later.
The theft of 114 approach lights directly forced the closure of the approach lighting system on the north side of the Taiyuan Airport runway, posing a serious challenge to flight safety.
The airport urgently transported a batch of new lights, and including other installation costs, as well as the resulting flight delays, diversions, and returns, the losses amounted to 2 million yuan.
Police investigation at the scene revealed that the lampshades of the approach lights had been dismantled and the aluminum structure inside the lamp bodies had been removed. Later, it was discovered that the suspect had contact with similar materials at a waste collection station above a clothing market.
Following the trail, police quickly apprehended the suspect Wang in Taiyuan City and Gao in Anhui Province. Both confessed that the mastermind of the case was a man named "Zheng Chao."
For many years, the suspect’s name mysteriously disappeared from household registration records. The detectives from that time traced his registered residence and retrieved his household registration file, but found no record of this person. He also left no photos, fingerprints, or DNA, bringing the investigation to a standstill.
This year, the Airport Public Security Bureau restarted a special operation to tackle long-standing unsolved cases. Police reviewed the files and re-investigated using big data, and a man named "Zheng Wei" surfaced.
Police tracked down "Zheng Wei," who initially tried to deny the charges, but eventually confessed to all the criminal facts.
It turned out that in 2004, "Zheng Chao" took advantage of the opportunity to change to a second-generation ID card, and through a relative acting on his behalf, modified his name and date of birth, successfully hiding under the new identity of "Zheng Wei." Currently, Zheng Wei has been approved for arrest by the procuratorial organ, and the case is being further processed.