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Locked rear door foils fools' taxi robbery
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-18 07:48

A locked left rear door foiled a plan two crooks had to rob a Beijing taxi driver recently.

On the night of Oct 31, Zhai and Xin tried to rob a taxi driver surnamed Zhang at knifepoint.

After forcing him to pull over in a back lane, one held a knife to Zhang's throat while the other, sitting in the left back seat, tried to get out and seal off his only exit.

As Zhang was handing over his cell phone and other valuables, he noticed the man behind getting flustered because he couldn't open the door.

He then pulled away from the knife, got out and ran away to call police.

Three passers-by joined Zhang to chase the fleeing robbers to a hotel, where police arrested them.

Taxis' left rear doors are always locked in China for safety reasons.

(Beijing Times)