Interrogation chairs being sold online for US$75 in China – no questions asked
One vendor says they can be bought by anyone, without using a real name
As people increasingly do more of their shopping online rather than in bricks-and-mortar stores, it seems almost anything can be bought on the internet – groceries, office supplies, cars ... even interrogation chairs.
Dozens of vendors on online shopping platform Taobao have this week been found to be selling the same rigid chairs that are used by police in China to restrain suspects.
Taobao is owned by Alibaba Group, which owns the South China Morning Post.
The chairs, which are available in a variety of designs, are priced between 500 yuan (US$75) and 3,000 yuan (US$460) each.
Their sale was pointed out on Twitter on Monday by China Law Translate, which remarked on the “unintended transparency” of the country’s online marketplaces.