From Shanghai Daily
A GANG allegedly equipped with armored vehicles in Hebei Province had the backing of a senior police officer, Guangzhou Daily reported today.
The gang was armed with heavy weapons and allegedly extorted 800 million yuan (US$104.9 million) – the most in the country's history of such cases, the report said.
The officer, who acted as a division [deputy] head in the public security bureau of Tangshan City, offered alleged gang leader Yang Shukuan(杨树宽) support as well as weapons and ammunition. Yang bribed the officer with an undisclosed amount of money and an Audi A8, the newspaper said.
Yang was reportedly addicted to drugs and a known womanizer. He allegedly recruited about 40 roughnecks, mostly ex-convicts, and bribed officers to establish his gang.
Yang reportedly drove his armored vehicles around the streets of Tangshan as though he was on patrol. Once when he was stopped by two police officers, Yang and his thugs beat the officers. Both ended in a hospital for one month, the report said.
Yang and his accomplices also allegedly threatened mine owners with guns and other heavy weapons to occupy their mines and companies. One mine owner refused Yang's offer to buy his mine at a very low price. In response, Yang and his henchmen allegedly rushed the man's house and compelled him to sign the contract by shooting the ceiling, according to the newspaper.
Yang also "borrowed" money from local companies, but the deals were reached under threat of weapons and armored vehicles, which brought him at least 500 million yuan, Guangzhou Daily said.
A subordinate's wife was forced to be Yang's mistress. He allegedly forced the woman to take drugs with him and threatened the subordinate to not interfere.
A senior executive of a state-owned company in Tianjin was forced to invest 200 million yuan in Yang's company, the newspaper said.
Yang's group is considered the country's biggest organized group with large stashes of weapons and ammunition, according to the report.
In a recent crackdown targeting illegal explosives, guns, ammo and knives, police in Tangshan confiscated 38 guns and more than 10,000 bullets from the group, which also possessed tear gas grenades and other professional equipment, the report said.
A domestic Website published information about the group, attracting the attention of senior officials. [An unofficial source said it was Yang's gangsters beating a relative of a senior leader of the central government that leads to his group's doom. the source also said there are still too many gangs in Tangshan occupying mines and extorting people]. The Public Security Department of Hebei has dispatched a task force to Tangshan for further investigation.
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