Firecracker crime backfires on would-be crook

A man attempted to blow up an automatic teller machine (ATM) with firecrackers in the hopes he would be sentenced to a labor camp over the Spring Festival as a way to evade hounding creditors.

However, he was disappointed to discover China had recently abolished its re-education-through-labor system, Shandong TV reported.

Police in Dongying, Shandong province apprehended the man surnamed Xu at a hotel 32 hours after using a homemade explosive device on a machine outside a local bank.

Surveillance footage showed Xu approach the machine around 1 am followed by a huge flash. The machine was left undamaged.

"I just used gunpowder from firecrackers," Xu said.

Xu, from Jilin province, was recently fired from his job and said he committed the crime in the hopes he would evade his creditors in labor camp.

"I guess I am just unlucky," Xu told reporters.

The National People's Congress Standing Committee had announced the abolishment of the 56-year-old system of re-education through labor on November 15, 2013.