A Chinese man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of robbing 400,000 yuan (about 52,600 U.S. dollars) in gold from gold shops and jewelers in Shanghai, the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate court announced on Friday.

In July last year, Fu Fei, 41, a resident of east China's Zhejiang province, visited a gold shop on the Xujiahui thoroughfare and asked the shop staff to show him a gold bar worth 180,000 yuan.

He suddenly snatched the gold bar, dashed out of the shop and disappeared into a crowd of shoppers, the court was told.

Three months later, he managed to pull off the same trick, running off with another gold bar of similar value from a gold shop on Nanjing East road.

He was arrested by police later that month and he confessed that in 2004, he had robbed two rings and a small gold bar from two jewelry shops in the city.

The court said Fu tried to sell the gold to raise money for gambling. He has been ordered to pay back a total of 400,000 yuan in compensation to the shops and an additional 50,000 yuan fine.

Source: Xinhua