BEIJING, China (AFP) – A Chinese bank robber turned multi-millionaire property developer has been arrested 16 years after he committed the crime, state media reported Wednesday.

The man, identified only by his surname Shi, led a five-strong gang which stole 2.08 million yuan (now $330,000) in December 1999 from a bank branch in the central province of Henan, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Shi took his share of the money from the robbery and turned it into a business empire exceeding “hundreds of millions” of yuan and spanning “property development, commerce and amusement farms”, the Zhengzhou Evening News reported.

The thieves fired eight shots during the heist, seriously injuring a guard and a bank teller, and the crime became a national sensation.

It was not clear how the police had cracked the case, with the Zhengzhou Evening News saying only that the investigative team spent more than 10 months investigating, using “scientific data and human intelligence”.

Three of the men were apprehended by more than 80 armed police last week, according to the newspaper, while Shi and another man were captured three days later at a friend’s house.