Deaf-mute victims ‘beaten, raped, intimidated’ into stealing in Chinese crime gang

A deaf woman has been arrested in northeast China and accused of leading a gang of mainly deaf-mute thieves who were threatened and intimidated into a life of crime, a newspaper reported.

Police in Changchun in Jilin province busted the gang last month and detained four women and seven men, most of whom are deaf mute, the New Culture Express reported.

The gang’s leaders pretended to help people get jobs to lure them into the gang, the article said.

Victims then had their identity cards and money seized by the gang’s boss, Gu Li, 47.

Gang members would be beaten up, raped or threats made to kill their relatives if they did not go out and steal, the report said.

READ MORE: Chinese gangs ‘abducted deaf-mute students and forced them to commit robberies’

They targeted supermarkets and would cram expensive items inside their clothes to steal them.