Shopping centre 'terror gang' smashed

A gang that terrorised thousands of shoppers - and even government market inspectors - for almost a decade has been broken up in Shenzhen, Xinhua reported yesterday.

Alleged ringleader Chen Yifeng, 45, was arrested in Guangzhou two weeks ago and 19 gang members have been detained or arrested.

Chen's gang, which operated under the company name Guanfenghua Group, had allegedly illegally occupied as much as 75,000 sq metres of retail space in Luohu district and rented it out to shopkeepers.

The gang 'illegally built more than 2,000 shops with a total shopping space of as much as 75,000 sq metres', Xinhua said.

'[It] then publicly advertised for business across the country and individual businessmen to come and rent those shops, and - as a result - accumulated large amounts of money.

'In March 2003, the Guanfenghua Group even hired security guards and thugs and used force to illegally occupy Baoan Enterprise Electronic City shopping centre.'