Chinese gangs 'abducted deaf-mute students and forced them to commit robberies'

The operation, ordered by the Ministry of Public Security, rooted out 61 gangs engaged in abduction from 21 provinces across China, and rescued 70 deaf-mute people.

The arrested suspects were responsible for 345 crimes. Among the arrested was Yang Erdu, China’s most-wanted criminal, who master minded a series of abduction crimes.

Police said the suspects would approach the victims, the majority of whom were deaf-mutes students born after 1990, by posting job offers with attractive terms on social networking websites. When the students came to be interviewed, the gang members seized the student’s belongings and held them captive.

The gangs used physical abuse to force the students to commit crimes, police told the newspaper. The victims were not allowed to contact their families, talk to strangers or reveal information about the gangs if arrested by police, the report said.

If the students broke the rules, the gangs would punish them, cutting ears and hand tendons.