A LOCAL company is offering a 200,000-yuan (US$26,316) reward for information to help recover 21 computers storing confidential technical and business data, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

Officials with SC Exact Equipment Co. Ltd. in Shajing, Bao’an District, said the theft of the computers could cause the company to lose some 10 million yuan.

Burglars stole 16 desktop and five laptop computers, two digital cameras and some 10,000 yuan in cash from the company’s office at dawn Tuesday.

A security guard at the company who has since disappeared is one of the key suspects in the case.

“Information stored in the computers includes blueprints for more than 100 of the latest solar energy devices and full documents for the company’s listing on a stock exchange,” said a spokesman surnamed Zuo from the company.

He said 10 of the 100 blueprints represent the most advanced technology on the domestic market and had been newly completed by senior engineers trained in Germany. “We paid more than 400,000 euros (US$571,429) for their training,” he said.

Zuo said the company will offer a 100,000-yuan cash reward for anyone who can provide valuable information leading to the seizure of those responsible, while a 200,000-yuan reward will be given to those who help locate the missing computers.

Local police are targeting a 30-year-old security guard working for the company, who was on duty Monday night but went missing Tuesday morning following the investigation. The suspect, surnamed Wen, from Guizhou Province, had worked for the company for four months. (Tan Xiaomi)