Shanghai police said yesterday they had caught three would-bethieves while they were still planning their crimes.

Two men, Feng who lives in Baoshan District and Liu from the Pudong New Area, conspired online with another man,Jia, who lives in Tielingin the northeastern province of Liaoning, to carry out a robbery, police said.

Jia arrived in Shanghai to meet Feng on August 13, and the two were caught by police around midnight the same day in the residential complex where Feng lived.Liu, the mastermind, was caught in his home in Pudong the next day.

Police said that the three had planned to rob a rich woman who runs a training company in Zhejiang Province. The three suspects have confessed and nonehad a criminal record, police said.

Tang Yi, a police officer in Baoshan District, said making preparations for a robbery is a crime, even if the robbery was not carried out.

“Robbery is a serious crime which threatens people’s property and physical safety,” he said. “As police officers, we are attempting, as far as possible, to prevent such crimes.”

Shanghai police said that including this case, they apprehended suspects in four cases before the planned robberies took place and have solved all robbery cases reported since 2018.

In the first seven months of this year, the number of such cases reported was down 60.1 percent from a year earlier.