A man attempted to steal jewels worth more than 1.33 million yuan (US$160,000) from a Futian District shopping mall early Wednesday morning but was caught before he gets out of the building.

Police caught the thief within 20 minutes of receiving the theft report. The man had made a pair of trousers in the mall into a rope but was afraid to climb down from the third floor of the building by using it.

The suspect, 26, surnamed Li, said he had no idea how much the jewels were worth.

Li had hidden in the emergency staircase of the shopping mall since 8:30 PM Tuesday and stole the jewels around 3 AM Wednesday. He then stole clothes from the shopping mall to hold jewelry and hid again in the emergency staircase waiting for the mall to open in the morning.

It took salespeople three hours to categorize several hundred pieces of jewelry with the most precious piece being a sapphire pendant worth 36,000 yuan.

Li said he was a hairdresser before a gambling addiction cost him his job. He lost more than 8,000 yuan and had no means to repay the debts.

Police were investigating the case.

(Shenzhen Daily July 8, 2005)