Cops smash triad in Guangdong

POLICE in Guangdong Province, South China, have smashed a leading triad in the city of Qingyuan and rounded up 59 suspects.  

Those arrested include local civil servants and police officers who used their influence and power to provide protection to local secret societies involved in organised crime, known as Hei Shehui or Mafia-style organisation, an official from Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security said on Wednesday.  

Further inquiries into the triad are continuing, added the official.  

Law enforcement officers seized seven cars and two motorcycles, 31 guns, over 100 rounds of ammunition and 21 knives belonging to suspected gang members.  

Police also confiscated a total of 170,000 yuan (RM77,831) in cash and closed down at least 10 underground casinos during a swoop in Qingyuan, about 100km from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong.  

A quantity of fake certificates and official stamps were also seized.  

It is to date the largest triad that has been cracked in Guangdong Province which borders Hong Kong and Macau.  

Liang Guoju, director of Guangdong Provincial Public Security Bureau, said the crackdown has dealt a heavy blow to the triads and curtailed a number of criminal activities and promised more crackdowns to come.  

The gang, headed by Xie Haiqing and Wang Minqiang, is alleged to have committed more than 50 major crimes since 1996, including a string of robberies which netted more than 4.9mil yuan (RM2.24mil) in property and cash.  

The gang's criminal activities in recent years involved kidnapping, rape, extortion, loan sharking, possession of firearms and running illegal casinos in the cities of Qingyuan and Qingxin and Guangzhou's Huadu District. – China Daily