Three charged over alleged lottery ticket thefts

Police officers arrested three people in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Monday for alleged lottery store thefts.

The arrests followed the owner of a lottery store in the city's Chengyang district reporting to police that he had discovered more than 500 yuan ($68) of lottery tickets missing.

Two other stores in the area had also reported thefts on the same day.

After police visited the stores and looked at surveillance footage, officers quickly identified three young suspects and apprehended them on Monday evening.

The three suspects, surnamed Sheng, Liu, and Tao, reportedly told police they relied on odd jobs for their incomes and fantasized about getting rich overnight, which prompted them to buy lottery tickets whenever they had extra money.

However, because they had not received their salaries this month, they reportedly told police they decided to steal the tickets instead.

Police believe the three worked together and managed to steal a total of more than 1,700 yuan worth of lottery tickets from the three stores.

Their efforts yielded only 60 yuan in winnings.

The three suspects are being held in administrative detention and are facing theft charges.