Forrest Gump would be saddened beyond words. But also heartened that the Nanjing Police had caught the man responsible for stealing a whole lot of his beloved boxes of chocolates. A total of 1,600 Ferrero Rocher in fact, but he ate not a single one.
It was 28 December when the Nanjing Police detained the man responsible for the theft when he was caught in the act at a supermarket near Shikan Men (石坎门) in the east of Nanjing, not so far from Confucius Temple.
And unlike Forrest, this Mr. Wang knew exactly what he was going to get, and what he was going to do next.
But he’d been caught red handed with 36 boxes of the Ferrero Rocher treats stuffed inside his oversized jacket.
The police investigation revealed that Wang had, over a period of time, made a number of thefts of Ferrero Rocher from various Nanjing supermarkets.
He’d accumulated 1,600 pieces of the delicious chocolates on account Ferrero Rocher is sold in packages containing varying numbers of the (large) bite-sized treats.
But if he wasn’t eating them, what was he doing? Wang had in actual fact been selling them on at rock-bottom prices, reports The Paper. And the recipient was a company which specialises in all the supplies needed for weddings.
An Italian brand dating back to 1982, Ferrero Rocher is popular as gifts handed out to guests at Chinese weddings. They’re part of a token of appreciation for the guests’ coming.
Placed in ornately decorated cardboard gift boxes, along with sweets for the children and a few other goodies, the choccies are handed out to guests as the wedding dinner progresses.
Ferrero Rocher is the top choice for chocolate gifting in China, partially on account of its gold-coloured foil wrapping, making it ideal for weddings and Chinese New Years. But nevertheless, all that auspiciousness amassed by Wang has not been enough to keep him out of police custody as the world outside brings in 2022.
