Tragedy brought by handguns lost on patrol, 600 million cash-car robbery murder

■ Broadcasting: FM 94.5 (06:40~06:55, 12:40~12:55, 19:40~19:55)
■ Broadcast Date: January 16, 2025 (Thursday)
■ Host: Lawyer Lee Won-hwa
■ Dialogue: Lawyer Jeon Soo-ryeon

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.
◆Binaryization: Event X file of dualization. In life, there are moments when I think about whether I would have had a different result if I had paid more attention at that time. Of course, that doesn't change what happened in the past. In Songchon-dong, Daedeok-gu, Daejeon, a police officer who was on an alley patrol was robbed of a pistol by hit-and-runners. Of course, the police immediately launched an investigation, but it didn't produce any results. And no one really knew. The fact that this was a meticulous groundwork by the criminals for the case that will take place in two months. The man who was shot was rushed to the hospital but eventually died. This man was a bank employee who was working on transferring cash from a cash-carriage vehicle that cost 600 million won at the time of the accident into the bank. So the criminals who caused the accident had planned a meticulous crime for this money in the first place. And surprisingly, the culprit of this case has not been caught in more than 20 years. Then one day, a clue was found to identify these criminals. What was it? Let's take a closer look at this case in today's case X file. Hello, this is case X file dualization. Today, we are also with lawyer Jeon Soo-ryeon of Law Firm Roel. Welcome, lawyer.

◇ Jeon Training: Hello, I'm Jeon Soo-ryeon, a lawyer at LOEL Law Firm.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: I think it was an event that reminded me of the four-character idiom "Sapil Gwijeong." It happened in 2001. At that time, a really shocking incident was reported that downtown Daejeon might have been very noisy with this incident.

◇ Jeon Training: Yes. On December 21, 2001, shortly before the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, a cash transport vehicle was attacked by two robbers in the underground parking lot of Kookmin Bank in Dunsan-dong, Daejeon. At that time, there were bank managers, petition police, and drivers in the cash transport vehicle. The criminals shot the cash-carrier, two of whom were evaded, and the bank officer who resisted to the end was eventually shot. After that, the criminals stole a bag containing 300 million won in cash and fled.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: This incident itself is very shocking, but I'm curious about the person who was shot. Was this person okay? How is it?

◇ Jeon Training: Yes. The person in charge of the bank who was shot was rushed to the hospital, but sadly died of excessive bleeding. In particular, the bank manager was a popular employee as a manager, so other bank employees were shocked.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: In fact, 2001 doesn't seem like a long time ago, but it was 24 years ago. And it's not an incident that happened in the United States. Since it's Korea, it's not a movie that a robber with a gun turns bank cash. I can't imagine it.

◇ Jeon Training: That's right. As you all know, it seems that the shock of the people was greater because Korea is a country where guns are not allowed to the general public. However, after investigating the magazine of the gun used in the crime, it was found to be the same as the bullet used by the police.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: The gun used in the crime was a gun carried by the police, is this it? Then how do I watch this? Are you saying that the police could be the culprit?

◇ Jeon Training: No. The gun itself belongs to the police. But the police were not the culprits. To tell this story, I think we need to explain the incident that occurred two months ago. At that time, the criminal hit a police officer who was patrolling on foot in Daejeon with a car from behind and stole a pistol.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: The criminals have been meticulously preparing for months to rob the bank of cash. Is it this?

◇ Jeon Training: Yes, that's right. It's a pity that if the gunman had been taken away after the police officer was attacked, this incident would have prevented the death of a bank employee. Police have since conducted a large-scale investigation, but it was difficult to identify the suspect because there were no fingerprints or clues to identify the culprit and no witnesses.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: That's right. In fact, at that time, there were not many CCTVs here and there like now.

◇ Jeon Training: Yes, that's right. Therefore, the police had no other evidence, so they made a montage and continued the investigation by offering a bounty of 20 million won, which was a huge amount of money at the time. At that time, only 5,000 people were put on the list of suspects by the police.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: 5,000 people on the line of suspects? It's incredible.

◇ Jeon Training: Yes. Police said they investigated bank employees, security company officials, similar ex-convicts, as well as those who borrowed a movie containing a scene of a police officer attack from a video rental store. In addition, since the vehicle used in the crime was stolen from Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, police collected the highway pass of all vehicles that traveled from Suwon to Daejeon before the crime and recognized all these fingerprints one by one. However, the case has been gradually prolonged as no suspects have been found in anyone. Then, eight months after the incident, a clue was detected.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: Which one was it?

◇ Jeon Training: At a drinking party, a man in his 20s ranted that his acquaintance was the culprit of this case. Based on this, the police were able to arrest three suspects, including Song, who was in his 20s at the time.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: I'm glad you've been arrested. Did you happen to be able to get a confession from these people?

◇ Jeon Training: Yes. Through the investigation, the police received a statement that Song, in his 20s, purchased a pistol two months before the incident and stole a Grandeur car from Suwon. But the problem was that all the police had secured was this confession. Two of the three arrested consistently denied the crime from the beginning, and even Song, who confessed to the crime as if he had done it at the beginning of the arrest, eventually reversed his statement. The cash they stole or the whereabouts of the pistol they used for the crime have not been confirmed. In the end, Song revealed that he made a false confession by a police adviser at the time of interrogation of the suspect before his arrest, that is, the warrant was reviewed, and the court rejected the arrest warrant requested by the police, saying the evidence was insufficient, and all of Song and his party were eventually released.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: I think the fact that Song and others confessed is different from the facts we originally knew. It was known that the handgun was originally a handgun used by the police, but since you bought a handgun, I wonder if it's true. But anyway, considering that this person confessed to the crime and that there was even a person who said that his acquaintance was the real culprit in this case at the bar, I think that the real criminal came late and suddenly changed his words thinking that it would not be revealed because there was no evidence other than confession. They were the actual criminals, but they couldn't catch them because the evidence wasn't clear, or the police really bothered people with unreasonable investigations.

◇ Jeon Training: That's right. That's why I couldn't draw a clear conclusion at the time. But the important thing is that the police and the scientific investigation team did not give up until the end. And as you know, the statute of limitations expires in December 2016, but the so-called Taewan Act, which does not apply the statute of limitations to the murder, allowed the police to continue tracking the case first.

◆Binary: It's now traceable. From what you did, are you still in a situation where you haven't caught the criminal?

◇ Jeon Training: No. Twenty-one years after the incident on August 25, 2022, two suspects were finally arrested by the Daejeon National Police Agency's dedicated team in charge of the unpublished case. In re-investigation, police found a person who matched the gene collected from an illegal game room in Chungcheongbuk-do while collecting and matching the gene believed to be the culprit from a handkerchief, and after investigating all 15,000 people who entered the illegal game room, they identified a person named Lee Jung-hak as a suspect and were able to arrest him in Daejeon Metropolitan City.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: I thought the 5,000 people who were identified as suspects earlier were considerable, but it's amazing to hear that we investigated 15,000 people. Did you get a proper confession this time?

◇ Jeon Training: Fortunately, I was able to get a proper confession this time. After interrogating Lee Jung-hak, the police were able to find out that he committed the crime with a person named Syngman Rhee, an accomplice, in addition to confessing to the case.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: You finally revealed your accomplices.

◇ Jeon Training: Thankfully so. Afterwards, the police arrested Lee Seung-man in Jeongseon, a small branch, and finally were able to arrest both the criminals at the time 21 years after the incident.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: However, during the trial, the two appeared to be in great trouble. It's known like this. So, I think they put off the responsibility of each other, saying, "Who shot and killed the bank employee? I didn't do it."

◇ Jeon Training: Yes. After the incident, the two appeared to blame each other for the murder, saying they had shot each other. This is because robbery and murder are subject to punishment because there is no statute of limitations, whereas robbery itself is subject to statute of limitations, so it seems that there is a possibility that some punishment may be avoided.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: Yes. What was the outcome of the trial?

◇Jeon Training: The first trial court saw Rhee Syng-man, a former soldier, as the main culprit because he was a good shooter, and sentenced Rhee to life imprisonment and Lee Jung-hak to 20 years in prison because he simply participated in the crime. However, the appellate court reviewed some of the controversial role of the executor and the legal issues in the case, and both eventually changed to life imprisonment. All the criminals appealed to this, but the final Supreme Court also confirmed the same life sentence as the appeal.

◆ Won-hwa Lee: Considering that the sentences of the two were the same, they were co-conspirators of conspiracy. I think that's how I made the decision. That's right. Since life imprisonment came out the same, I don't think the two of them had to fight in the first place. Right?

◇ Jeon Training: That's right. Legally, it was natural that both were accomplices involved in the murder. This case was the result of the development of scientific investigation, continuous improvement of the law, and persistent police investigation. In particular, it would have been difficult to solve such a long-overdue case without a legal system such as the Taewan Act. In the end, it is an example of once again showing that justice can be realized over time.

◆ Lee Won-hwa: Case X file. Today, we took a look at the robbery of a Daejeon cash transport truck that stole a large amount of cash and ran away after killing a bank employee with a pistol in the middle of downtown Daejeon. It's been a long time, but I think the investigation authorities' will to catch the criminal in the end without neglecting a single clue was shining. If you've committed a crime, you deserve to be punished. That's all we've prepared. You all deserve to be defended. Incident X file, thank you everyone.