Chinese duo wanted over Jeju urn thefts

South Korean police said Thursday that they plan to seek Interpol assistance in capturing two Chinese nationals who fled overseas last week after allegedly stealing multiple cremation urns from a local temple on Jeju Island.

According to the Jeju Dongbu Police Station, all of the urns, which they hid at two different spots, were recovered and returned to the families.

The suspects -- both in their 40s who entered Jeju on Feb. 18 -- are accused of breaking into the temple’s columbarium located in eastern Jeju at around 1 a.m. on Feb. 24 and snatched a total of six urns. The crime was caught on surveillance camera.

After burying them underground on a nearby mountain, three each at two different spots, the duo sent a video message to families that morning, demanding a ransom of $2 million, approximately 28.7 billion won, for the return of the urns. The suspects, then, left the country, traveling through Hong Kong before fleeing to Cambodia.

A three-day search by a team of around 40 police officers, using the video as reference, led to their retrieval and eventual return to the bereaved families, the Jeju police said.

Investigators identified the suspects as Chinese tourists who entered the island on a visa waiver. The southern resort island operates the visa-waiver entry system to boost tourism, exempting nationals from 111 countries from needing entry visas. Under this program, foreign tourists can stay on the island for up to 30 days but are restricted from traveling to other parts of Korea.

“It is necessary to install locking devices or CCTV cameras inside columbariums. If a crime occurs, it should be reported to the police immediately,” a Jeju police official said