CHINA:Chinese police have detained the deputy headmaster of a school for deaf-mute and other special-needs children on suspicion of selling pupils to a ring of pickpockets, in a case that has highlighted the difficult plight of disabled youngsters.
The children, some as young as 12, went missing from their school in Liupanshui in Guizhou province last month, the Guizhou Metropolitan Daily reported. They were trained by the ring to pick pockets and were required to steal 500 yuan, around €50, a day.
It's a tale with echoes of Fagin from Oliver Twist. Zhu Xiangyu (52), who as well as being deputy headmaster of the school was also vice-president of Liupanshui's Deaf-Mute Association, was detained along with four other suspects. Hundreds of deaf-mute students had gone missing since 2005, the newspaper said.
Last week, police pledged to crack down on gangs that exploit deaf-mute youths. Police in Hunan province recently broke up a band of gun-toting deaf-mute thieves who had carried out hundreds of armed robberies around the country.
There are 1.8 million deaf-mute children in China and in the absence of a state support network, it is often difficult for them to receive proper education or find work.
Crime offers deaf-mute teenagers a source of income and a sense of belonging, and gangs have targeted schools for deaf-mute students to lure or press-gang recruits. A Ministry of Public Security official said the ministry had ordered local police to work with disabled people's associations and welfare agencies to stop deaf-mute teenagers being drawn into a life of crime.