Taxi Driver Trunk Kidnapping Incident, Strange Behavior of the Robber

A 60-year-old man, referred to as A, who works as a taxi driver in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, experienced a shocking incident where he was threatened with a weapon and robbed by a passenger before being locked in the trunk.

According to JTBC's "Incident Control Room" on the 2nd, taxi driver A picked up a male passenger, referred to as B, around 9 PM on the 30th of last month in a busy area of Cheongju. When they arrived at a seldom-visited village hall, an unexpected situation unfolded.

B suddenly took out a weapon from his bag and turned into a robber. He held the weapon to A's neck and said, "Aren't you still supposed to live a bit longer?"

He then bound A's hands with rope and took control of the steering wheel, driving to a more remote location. A's mobile phone was used to access a banking app, where he checked A's balance of 1,090,000 KRW and demanded cash and debit cards, stating, "Why is there only this much money?"

B confined A in the trunk, using duct tape to bind his feet before heading to a nearby bank. He withdrew 700,000 KRW using the stolen debit card.

After driving for about 30 minutes, B opened the trunk and surprisingly said, "If you behave calmly, there won't be any harm to either of us. In the morning, I’ll text your son to come find you."

Around 1:30 AM, B took A's mobile phone and dashcam before fleeing, while A managed to free his hands and escape from the trunk.

Remarkably, at around 2 AM, B sent a text to a fellow taxi driver and acquaintance of A, saying, “The owner of this mobile phone is at a construction site next to a restaurant, so please help him out of the trunk safely."

A stated, "The situation had already occurred, and I thought it would be better not to provoke the robber, so I complied with his demands. I told the robber not to bet his life on 1 million KRW, and he replied, 'I'm sorry, sir. I’m really struggling to live right now.'” He recounted the situation at that time.

After escaping from the trunk, A headed straight to the police station, and the police were able to identify the suspect through CCTV analysis.

B was arrested at around 3 PM on the 31st, 17 hours after the incident occurred, at his home. The police are currently investigating B for robbery and are considering additional charges of kidnapping and threats. It has been reported that the police plan to apply for an arrest warrant after a thorough investigation of the incident's circumstances.

Image source: jtbc 'Incident Control Room', representative photo for the understanding of the article / gettyimagesbank