Chen Fuzhao, a 29-year-old "Falun Gong" practitioner, was detained for allegedly killing 16 beggars and vagrants and injuring one more by supplying them with poisoned food and water in Cangnan County of East China's Zhejiang Province, provincial police said Wednesday.

Chen was taken into custody and further investigations are going on.

Chen was believed to have put a kind of rat poison, named "Dushuqiang" in Chinese, into food and drinks and then offered them to beggars and junk men on 17 occasions between May 25 and June 26 in Cangnan County's Longgang Town.

Chen told the police that it is beneficial to his "Falun Gong" beliefs to kill beggars or vagrants, whom are regarded by him as the highest-level people among all kinds of human beings.

Medical experts found that "Dushuqiang" has been found in the stomachs of Chen's victims.

Among the 17 victims, only one is still alive and is receiving emergency hospital care.

About 500 policemen have been involved with the case, according to sources with the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Public Security.

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