The killer of seven people in the past two years has been caught in Yuechi County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, local police said Wednesday.

The killer also robbed more than 400,000 yuan (about 49,300 US dollars) worth of jewelries from the Jintai Jewelry Shop in Yuechi on Dec. 1, 2003 and 180,000 yuan (some 22,200 US dollars) in cash from the Baimiao Credit Cooperative on September 6 this year, also in Yuechi, police said.

Hu Daoping, alias Wu Jun, 34, from the Kaixian County, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, was caught on September 10 by the Yuchi Public Security Bureau.

According to the police, Hu also attempted to rob the treasury of the Yuchi County Post Office in January this year and a jewelry shop in city of Guang'an in April this year, but both crimes failed.

The seven victims, including two jewelry shop owners, two policemen, and three security guards, were all murdered during robberies, police said.

Hu was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for theft in Chongqing in 1995 but he broke out of jail and escaped to Sichuan in June 1998, police said.

Source: Xinhua