Burglar bit through steel bars

Chinese police who solved a spate of mystery burglaries were shocked to find the culprit was biting his way through steel window bars. Detectives in Nanjimen region, Chongqing, were puzzled by continuous reports of break-ins through caged windows.

"Through our investigations, we found the grids had been cut but with deep tooth prints," a local police spokesman said.

Eventually, their inquiries led them to interview a man who revealed he was sharing a hotel room with a man who could crack walnuts with his teeth. Police brought in the man, Xiong, 23, for questioning and he confessed that he was behind the burglaries.



He revealed that he had turned to crime after failing to find a job and could not even remember how many houses he had broken into over the last two years. Xiong told police he had grown up in a mountain town and had developed strong, sharp teeth by using them to open the walnuts which grew there in abundance.

He had found that he could chew open any steel bars up to 1cm in thickness, by prising open welding spots with his teeth.

"I only failed once in the past two years. Once I bit on a 2cm thick steel grid, and the first bite nearly dislocated my jaw," he said. "I never take other tools with me when breaking in. That's why I never got stopped by patrolling officers at night."