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Former homeless shelter official detained on human trafficking allegations
By Zhang Xuanchen |
December 22, 2010, Wednesday
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Online Edition
Online Edition
A FORMER official of a government-run homeless shelter has been detained on suspicion of trafficking mentally retarded people to toil in factories and quarries across China, according to police.
Police in Quxian County, Sichuan Province, said they detained Yang Junyi, a former official of the county's homeless shelter, on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in human trafficking. The shelter's chief Liu Dingming was suspended for duty negligence, according to a Quxian government statement posted on its website today.
An investigation found Yang, who was sacked by the government, may have cooperated with Zeng Lingquan, who owned an illegal labor agency, which he claimed was a shelter for homeless and disabled people. Zeng allegedly sold the people as forced laborers to factories, the Oriental Morning Post reported today.
Police detained Zeng, 46, on a charge of illegal business dealings on December 13 after media reports said he was suspected of selling 11 homeless people, including eight with mental disabilities, to a stone quarry in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The laborers were fed dog food, were not given any protective clothing or equipment and were forced to grind stones into powder for up to 14 hours a day without pay before they were rescued. Some who tried to escape were badly beaten, a Xinjiang police officer said, according to an earlier Xinjiang Metropolis report.
Quxian authorities said it took time to determine whether Yang was involved in illegal trade. But an unnamed county official confirmed Yang and Zeng had a contract in which Yang had "personally" paid Zeng for several disabled people, the Oriental Morning Post reported. The official declined to say how much money was involved and other details.
While at the shelter, which was in a remote village, Yang was in charge of caring for a dozen homeless people.
The shelter was established in 2003 with government funds. They were provided basic shelter and food and helped tend the shelter's vegetable plot, according to Wu Tao, a spokesman with the Quxian County government.
However, Oriental Morning Post reporters only spotted one boy, who said he didn't remember his name, at the shelter while the others had been "relocated" by county authorities. The boy said he had spent five years in a shabby basement and was ordered to feed pigs in the shelter's yard. He said he didn't remember what he ate for his last meal, according to the newspaper.
Community members who live near the shelter said its residents were poorly treated and were not given enough to eat while being forced to work, according to the report. Some were sent to work in factories and their pay was given to the shelter's managers although Wu did not confirm this, the report said.
Police in Quxian County, Sichuan Province, said they detained Yang Junyi, a former official of the county's homeless shelter, on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in human trafficking. The shelter's chief Liu Dingming was suspended for duty negligence, according to a Quxian government statement posted on its website today.
An investigation found Yang, who was sacked by the government, may have cooperated with Zeng Lingquan, who owned an illegal labor agency, which he claimed was a shelter for homeless and disabled people. Zeng allegedly sold the people as forced laborers to factories, the Oriental Morning Post reported today.
Police detained Zeng, 46, on a charge of illegal business dealings on December 13 after media reports said he was suspected of selling 11 homeless people, including eight with mental disabilities, to a stone quarry in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The laborers were fed dog food, were not given any protective clothing or equipment and were forced to grind stones into powder for up to 14 hours a day without pay before they were rescued. Some who tried to escape were badly beaten, a Xinjiang police officer said, according to an earlier Xinjiang Metropolis report.
Quxian authorities said it took time to determine whether Yang was involved in illegal trade. But an unnamed county official confirmed Yang and Zeng had a contract in which Yang had "personally" paid Zeng for several disabled people, the Oriental Morning Post reported. The official declined to say how much money was involved and other details.
While at the shelter, which was in a remote village, Yang was in charge of caring for a dozen homeless people.
The shelter was established in 2003 with government funds. They were provided basic shelter and food and helped tend the shelter's vegetable plot, according to Wu Tao, a spokesman with the Quxian County government.
However, Oriental Morning Post reporters only spotted one boy, who said he didn't remember his name, at the shelter while the others had been "relocated" by county authorities. The boy said he had spent five years in a shabby basement and was ordered to feed pigs in the shelter's yard. He said he didn't remember what he ate for his last meal, according to the newspaper.
Community members who live near the shelter said its residents were poorly treated and were not given enough to eat while being forced to work, according to the report. Some were sent to work in factories and their pay was given to the shelter's managers although Wu did not confirm this, the report said.
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