32 freed as second slave labor racket busted

By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-23 08:36

Thirty-two mentally challenged people forced to work as slave laborers have been rescued from two brick kilns in Anhui province, police said on Friday.

About 80 policemen raided the kilns in Zhuanji and Guangwu townships in Jieshou late last month, rescued the "workers" and arrested the kiln owner, surnamed Zhang, and nine others suspected of aiding him run the criminal racket, said Zhao Liang, a Jieshou public security bureau officer.

The incident comes about two years after a major slave labor scandal in Shanxi and Henan provinces rocked the country and rolled many a head in the provincial administrations.

The local procuratorate in Anhui will soon approve the 10 men's arrest for "beating and treating mentally challenged people like slaves", Zhao said.

Zhang, 38, a native of Jieshou, allegedly bought some of the "workers" for about 300 yuan ($44) each from a taxi driver in the neighboring Shandong province, Zhao said.

Zhang owns several kilns in Shandong. He took over the kilns in Anhui early this year and brought a few of the "workers" from Shandong, Zhao said.

"The rescued 'workers' are between 25 and 45, but only a few of them could say where they were from."

Xinhua, however, said they were from several provinces, including Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Hunan and Hubei.

They were forced to work for up to 16 hours a day, and given just enough food to survive, Zhao said. Some of them had injury marks, suggesting they were beaten up.

"Their clothes were in tatters and they were sleeping on the bare floor when police found them," he said. The families of 19 of the victims have been contacted.

The 2007 slave labor scandal came to light after 400 parents posted an online petition in late May, saying their missing children had been sold to illegal brick kilns in Shanxi and Henan to work as slaves.

The first kiln police raided in 2007 was in Caosheng village of Hongtong county in Shanxi. They freed 31 workers, the youngest of whom was 14.

The slave laborers in Shanxi and Henan, too, had been forced to work for up to 16 hours a day with little food and no pay. And trained dogs and musclemen were used to prevent them from escaping.

Of the more than 1,000 people rescued in 2007, 367 were mentally challenged.

"Some brick kiln owners enslave mentally challenged people because they are 'easier to control'," Zhao said.

Police are trying to find more clues to uncover a possible racket run by criminals to traffic mentally challenged people.