When a thief leaves the scene of his crime, he must make sure he hasn’t left anything behind, not even his own feces. Recently, a man broke into a factory in Shulin City, Taipei County, and stole drill bits valued at more than NT$400,000. However, in the middle of his operation, he was caught short and relieved himself in the factory, conveniently leaving a pile of excrement from which the police extracted his DNA and apprehended the maladroit criminal. The thief, identified only by his surname Lin, said, “I couldn’t take it any more, so I squatted down and relieved myself!”
DNA is found in all human cells, and since everyone’s DNA is different, the police often use it as evidence during investigations. Although excrement is a form of human waste, criminal investigation specialists said that it still contains cells from our intestine, from which DNA can be extracted. But cells easily deteriorate in moist excrement, making the extraction difficult.
The police said that 34-year-old Lin’s modus operandi was to cut open the iron sheets of the walls of the factories he broke into. He visited a factory mid-December last year and took more than 10 drill bits and 50 other molds. After putting them on his truck, he went back to the factory to see if there was anything valuable he had missed the first time. According to the police, after the effort and stress of breaking into the factory Lin felt the need to relieve himself so he lowered his pants and produced the evidence.
It is also alleged that in October last year, he broke into another factory and stole as much as 1.5 tons of steel material. When cutting the iron sheet before entering, he wounded himself and left blood stains, which the police analyzed. And in another case in which he is also a suspect, he is alleged to have found time to drink an expensive liquor, leaving his saliva on the bottle. That also became evidence for the police.
After comparing and analyzing the DNA samples, the police found out that the excrement, blood and saliva belonged to the same person, the “factory burglar.” Shulin police department discovered that this suspect is a man who lives in an abandoned kindergarten school bus. With the help of other police stations, they succeeded in capturing him. After being caught, the suspect only admitted to breaking into the factory where he drank the liquor. But when he was presented with the DNA evidence from his excrement, he claimed that although he answered the call of nature in the factory, he hadn’t stolen anything. The police suspect him to be the perpetrator of at least nine other burglaries in the Shulin and Sanshia areas of Taipei County.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
男子林煥鈞涉嫌屢次到台北縣樹林工業區侵入鐵皮工廠行竊，有一次費力搬運市價逾四十萬的鑽頭等工具後，一時忍不住在工廠內放了一坨屎，卻被警方從屎堆取得寶貴的DNA生物跡證，日前林嫌落網後說：「那時候突然肚子痛，就蹲下去拉囉！」卻不知，這坨屎就成為他行竊的「鐵證」。
DNA又稱去氧核糖核酸，從人體細胞可取得，因人各不同，故成辦案的生物跡證。屎雖是排泄物，但刑事局鑑識專家說，糞便通過腸道時會帶走腸道脫落的細胞，可驗DNA；但糞便通常潮溼，細胞易遭破壞裂解，較難採取。
警方說，三十四歲的林煥鈞習慣剪開工廠的鐵皮外牆入侵犯案，去年十二月中旬到周姓男子的工廠，將十多個鑽石鑽頭、馬達及五十多個模具，費勁一一搬上貨車後，重回工廠巡視有無值錢財物沒偷，可能剛才使勁搬運，突然放鬆下來，一股「便意」傳來，就大剌剌蹲在廠中央拉了起來，留下這坨關鍵的證物「屎」。
他涉嫌去年十月偷竊黃姓男子工廠內重達一．五噸鋼條原料，剪鐵皮不慎割傷流血，警方當然不放過，採得血液檢體；他另涉侵入一家工廠，卻有閒工夫喝掉價值四千多元的洋酒，這回貪嘴再被採得口水。
警方比對，確認屎、血、口水竟然都是同一人，知道遇上「鐵皮大盜」，樹林警分局分析，嫌犯林煥鈞平日藏身在一輛廢棄的幼稚園廂型車裡，經佈線訪查後，偵查隊昨晨會同其他派出所，在廂型車附近將他擒捕到案；他應訊只承認犯下喝洋酒一案，後來警方舉證「拉屎」一案，面對鐵證，林嫌只承認「有拉屎」但「沒行竊」，令警方啼笑皆非。而警方根據人證、物證，認為林嫌在樹林、三峽一帶至少犯案九起。（自由時報記者吳仁捷、黃敦硯）
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