Police have arrested more than 10 gang members and are hunting the remaining fugitives, a local media report said Monday.
The statement concerned a mass arrest that took place on April 9 in Fangshan district, Beijing News reported on Monday.
Police are appealing to the public to provide details that might speed up the capture of the other gang members. They are even asking the fugitives to turn themselves in.
The gangster group was tagged with a series of crimes in Fangshan, such as offering illegal loans and kidnapping.
Due to the highly secretive actions of the group, police were, for a long time, unable to gather enough evidence to make an arrest.
All of that changed on Nov 14 last year when they received a call from a restaurant in Changyang, a town in Fangshan.
Huang Libo, boss of Friend Restaurant, told officers he had been hit by Zhou Laoshi, brother of Zhou Laoba, and that one of his waitresses, named Yu Yang, had been taken against her will.
Huang said Zhou fought with customers when trying to kidnap Yu, his former girlfriend. He later returned with 10 armed men and managed to take Yu, after hitting Huang and damaging his restaurant, Huang said.
Huang also said he was ordered to find the customers who had tried to protect Yu, or else his restaurant would be shut down.
Police said they tried to track Zhou Laoshi and his gang but quickly lost the trail. Six months later, they finally located eight centers of activity for the group and made the arrests.
Police said Zhou Laoba is actually Zhou Xilian, 40, from Jiaohe in Jilin province. They claimed he came to Fangshan in 1998 with men hired mostly from his hometown.
Zhou's group quickly picked up a reputation for criminal acts among community residents.
"Nobody dared to upset him," said Fu Gang, a former local government official, who lost more than four million yuan to Zhou's group in gambling.
Fu said he was forced to gamble after asking for a favor from Zhou to help his friend. Fu said besides the 4 million yuan debt, he also owes as much as 2 million yuan accrued in interest.
Now divorced, Fu said his life remains in danger from Zhou's remaining gang members and is forced to live his life on the run.
Huang said he is also living in fear after calling the police six months ago and is cautious of letting anyone onto his property.
Questions:
1. How many gangsters were arrested?
2. What were the gangsters arrested for?
3. Where were the gangsters located?
Answers:
1. 10.
2. Illegal loans and kidnapping.
3. Fangshan District, Beijing.
(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)
Todd Balazovic is a reporter for the Metro Section of China Daily. Born in Mineapolis Minnesota in the US, he graduated from Central Michigan University and has worked for the China daily for one year.