Man steals 30,000 ice teas, and sells the empty plastic bottles for 115 yuan

Local police in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province detained a man who stole 30,000 bottles of iced tea worth 170,000 yuan ($27,370) and emptied them so that he could sell off the plastic for only 115 yuan.

Police tracked down the suspect surnamed Zhang on July 19 after the owner of the beverages, surnamed Liang, reported the break-in at his warehouse in March.

Liang, a beverage distributor, told police he had returned from a business trip to find his locked storage facility had been burgled and his stock missing on March 16.

Police performed an initial investigation to no avail.

"We didn't find any useful clues at first, but there was a sweet smell near the storehouse entrance. There we found some bottle caps scattered on the ground, " said police officer Lin Jianxue.

After being apprehended, Zhang told police he had arrived at the storehouse in the early morning and found it unlocked. Inside he discovered the 2,000 neatly-stacked cartons of iced tea.

After moving the goods outside, Zhang then recruited three nearby trash recyclers who, over the course of 12 hours, poured out the iced tea and harvested the plastic bottles.

Zhang was paid 115 yuan in cash for the recyclable plastic.

Police eventually tracked down the three trash collectors, who said they had sold the plastic bottles to a nearby recycling center for 900 yuan. The collectors were not charged in the theft.

"They didn't do it intentionally because they had no idea where the beverages came from. They just collected them as trash," said Lin.

No charges have been pressed.