Xinhua News Agency, Wuhan (reporter Li Yizhong, correspondents Qin Qianqiao and Peng Yeiwu) - At 11 PM on the evening of September 1st, the Xinzhou police successfully captured the remaining members of a theft gang, Yu Wei and Zhou Shengyong, who were hiding in a restaurant in the village of Shahe in Xuguzhen. With this arrest, all seven members of the major car theft ring, which had operated across three provinces and seven counties stealing over 90 motor vehicles, have now been apprehended.
This year, the Xinzhou police established a special task force to investigate prominent cases of motor vehicle thefts in their jurisdiction. On the evening of August 24th, the owner of a large food stall on Xinzhou's main street informed the task force officers that he had overheard a man around 40 years old discussing the sale of trucks during an evening meal. The man suspected that these transactions might involve stolen vehicles ("black cars"). When this man returned for another meal, the police kept him under surveillance. Investigations revealed that the man was named Ye Hui, 38 years old, who had recently been released from prison after serving time for theft.
The police believed Ye Hui was likely back in his old trade and conducted further investigations. Soon, reports came in that Ye Hui was attempting to sell a high-value truck. The police promptly took Ye Hui into custody. Ye Hui confessed that his accomplice, Ren Hongchun, was staying at a hotel in Macheng. The police immediately rushed to Macheng and arrested Ren Hongchun while he was sleeping in the hotel. The following day, they also captured three other co-conspirators, Sun Silin, Miao Gangfu, and others.
Ren Hongchun confessed that since February, he had worked with Ye Hui and others, traveling to places such as Henan, Anhui, Wuhan, Macheng, Luotian, and Hong'an, committing 22 thefts of motor vehicles. They stole 5 large trucks, 3 rear eight-wheel dump trucks, 13 minivans, 1 small sedan, and more than 70 motorcycles.
The police spent a month tracking down the stolen goods and successfully recovered most of the stolen vehicles, valued at over 1.7 million yuan.