Police capture factory boss in slavery scandal
Source: Xinhua |
December 15, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Police last night captured the boss of a chemical factory embroiled in China's latest slave labor scandal and freed 12 mentally ill workers sold to him by an asylum owner in Sichuan Province. The asylum owner had been detained a day earlier.
Li Xinglin was caught at about 6pm in Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, a spokesman for Toksun County of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region told a press conference last night.
Li's business, the Jiaersi Green Construction Material Chemical Factory, was based in Toksun.
Li's son, Li Chenglong, was also caught with his father.
The two would be escorted back to Xinjiang soon, Yang Jin, Toksun's Party secretary, told reporters.
Zeng Lingquan was detained on Monday in Sichuan for allegedly selling people under his care in a Quxian County shelter to Li's factory.
The Toksun County government has contacted Quxian County to make sure the 12 rescued workers are cared for, according to Yang.
Li Xinglin and his son fled to the southwestern Sichuan Province on Sunday after the story broke. The son and the 12 mentally ill workers took a bus to Sichuan, according to Yang.
The factory in Toksun had been shut down and an investigation team had been sent in.
Li's wife is also in police custody.
The factory, which was registered on July 16, 2006, covered more than 6,667 square meters and produced talcum powder and quartz sand.
On December 10, reporters from Xinjiang Metropolis News were tipped off that the factory was using mentally ill workers and went to interview the owner about pollution as a ruse to view the conditions there.
People living near the factory said that similar plants in the area closed during the winter every year, and workers received at least 150 yuan each working day. But workers at the Jiaersi factory worked all year round without pay, the newspaper said.
Reporters found the floor of the workshop covered with thick dust, but workers had no masks. It was noted that they appeared to be intellectually challenged.
The reporters quoted Li as saying that his workers were from Quxian County's shelter for beggars in Sichuan.
The shelter was an adoption agency for the physically and mentally disabled, organized by Zeng, a local farmer.
The beggar shelter in Quxian had never registered with the local Civil Affairs Bureau, and neither had it applied for registration, said Wang Yong, director of the Quxian Civil Affairs Bureau.
"This is an illegal profit-making organization, which is not a rescue station, nor a charity house," said Zhang Tao, director of Sichuan's Department of Civil Affairs.
If disabled people are able and willing to work, they can get jobs from the Disabled Persons Federation, said Yuan Yiling, deputy chief of the social affairs section of the provincial civil affairs department.
There was public outrage across the country after the story of the mentally ill made to work as slaves was published.
In 2007, 32 people were found to have been enslaved in a brick factory in Shanxi Province from March to late May of that year.
One person died and 18 suffered injuries during that time.
Li Xinglin was caught at about 6pm in Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, a spokesman for Toksun County of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region told a press conference last night.
Li's business, the Jiaersi Green Construction Material Chemical Factory, was based in Toksun.
Li's son, Li Chenglong, was also caught with his father.
The two would be escorted back to Xinjiang soon, Yang Jin, Toksun's Party secretary, told reporters.
Zeng Lingquan was detained on Monday in Sichuan for allegedly selling people under his care in a Quxian County shelter to Li's factory.
The Toksun County government has contacted Quxian County to make sure the 12 rescued workers are cared for, according to Yang.
Li Xinglin and his son fled to the southwestern Sichuan Province on Sunday after the story broke. The son and the 12 mentally ill workers took a bus to Sichuan, according to Yang.
The factory in Toksun had been shut down and an investigation team had been sent in.
Li's wife is also in police custody.
The factory, which was registered on July 16, 2006, covered more than 6,667 square meters and produced talcum powder and quartz sand.
On December 10, reporters from Xinjiang Metropolis News were tipped off that the factory was using mentally ill workers and went to interview the owner about pollution as a ruse to view the conditions there.
People living near the factory said that similar plants in the area closed during the winter every year, and workers received at least 150 yuan each working day. But workers at the Jiaersi factory worked all year round without pay, the newspaper said.
Reporters found the floor of the workshop covered with thick dust, but workers had no masks. It was noted that they appeared to be intellectually challenged.
The reporters quoted Li as saying that his workers were from Quxian County's shelter for beggars in Sichuan.
The shelter was an adoption agency for the physically and mentally disabled, organized by Zeng, a local farmer.
The beggar shelter in Quxian had never registered with the local Civil Affairs Bureau, and neither had it applied for registration, said Wang Yong, director of the Quxian Civil Affairs Bureau.
"This is an illegal profit-making organization, which is not a rescue station, nor a charity house," said Zhang Tao, director of Sichuan's Department of Civil Affairs.
If disabled people are able and willing to work, they can get jobs from the Disabled Persons Federation, said Yuan Yiling, deputy chief of the social affairs section of the provincial civil affairs department.
There was public outrage across the country after the story of the mentally ill made to work as slaves was published.
In 2007, 32 people were found to have been enslaved in a brick factory in Shanxi Province from March to late May of that year.
One person died and 18 suffered injuries during that time.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
