The incident on May 28th of last year, where a sand霸 injured an owner in a residential area in the northern part of the city, has drawn strong attention from law enforcement. Upon learning that the owner was injured, Tong Mou, the mastermind behind the sand霸 gang, surrendered himself under legal pressure. Xi'an Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee member and Mayor Du Hangwei explicitly stated that it is necessary to strictly crack down on illegal activities such as forced transactions, extortion, and market bullying.
On May 28th of last year, an incident occurred in a residential area in the northern part of the city where a sand霸 injured an owner, drawing strong attention from law enforcement. The reporter learned from the Xin Cheng District Detention Center that the last two members of the sand霸 gang in custody, Yang Mou and Wang Mou, have recently been apprehended. Currently, the two suspects have been transferred to the detention center for review and prosecution. Yesterday, the prosecutor disclosed the details of the case to the reporters.
Case Review: "The one we cut is the owner" - Four sand霸s were sentenced in the first trial
On the afternoon of May 28th last year, at the Hanyuan Baoyi Fengguang Dayuan residential area in the northern part of the city, homeowner Pan Xuesheng bought sand to prepare for house renovation but was obstructed at the entrance. "How dare you meddle there? Who told you to buy sand from inside?" The sand霸 first verbally abused him, then chased and slashed Pan Xuesheng with a knife, saying, "The one we cut is the owner." Later, Pan Xuesheng had six stitches on his back.
The next day, our newspaper reported this incident, and the police made every effort to capture the culprits. On June 2nd, the key figure of the sand霸 gang, Tong Mou, surrendered to the police, followed by the arrest of Tong's younger brother Tong Moumou.
In July, the procuratorial unit placed six members of the "sand霸" gang led by Tong Mou under judicial supervision, while the other four accomplices were wanted online by the police. On August 27th, Ma Mou was arrested by the police. On November 6th, Han Mou was arrested by the police while on a train. However, Wang Mou and Yang Mou were still at large.
The court found that since November 2009, Tong Mou and others had been exclusively supplying sand and lime to the Baoyi Fengguang Dayuan residential area. They sold sand at prices roughly equal to those in the market but with half the volume, and did not allow homeowners in the residential area to purchase sand and lime themselves.
The court believed that the defendants coerced and extorted goods, which severely disrupted the rights of transaction parties and the order of the commodity trading market. In March of this year, the Xin Cheng District People's Court sentenced Tong Mou, Tong Moumou, Ma Mou to ten months in prison, and Han Mou to one year in prison for the crime of forced transactions; simultaneously, the four defendants were fined 30,000 yuan each.
The incident on May 28th last year, where a sand霸 injured an owner in a residential area in the northern part of the city, has drawn strong attention from law enforcement. Upon learning that the owner was injured, Tong Mou, the mastermind behind the sand霸 gang, surrendered himself under legal pressure. Xi'an Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee member and Mayor Du Hangwei explicitly stated that it is necessary to strictly crack down on illegal activities such as forced transactions, extortion, and market bullying.
Last year, all pages of our newspaper related to the sand霸 reports
Prosecutor explained: Sand霸 falsely claimed to have signed exclusive supply contracts
Property management dared not intervene in Dalic County Public Security Bureau
Recently, the last two members of the sand霸 gang, Yang Mou and Wang Mou, have separately been captured. Currently, the two suspects have been transferred to the detention center for review and prosecution. Yesterday, the prosecutor disclosed some details of the "sand霸" case involving six defendants' forced transaction behavior to the reporters.
According to the prosecutor handling the case, on the day of the incident, Tong Moumou noticed that some owners were transporting sand on their own, so he quickly called Wang Mou and Han Mou who were outside. They returned in a rented car, and Han Mou took out a hunting knife and injured the owner. Seeing the owner was about to call the police, the sand霸 gang hiding near the courtyard dispersed.
Upon learning that the owner was injured, Tong Mou, the mastermind behind the sand霸 gang, surrendered himself under legal pressure.
Tong Mou, aged 31 and a junior high school graduate, has been doing business in the Xi'an building materials market. He claimed that originally there were people in the community forcing sales, often causing friction with the owners. The property manager approached them to help drive away the troublemakers, in exchange for the condition of exclusively supplying sand and lime to the community. "Our building materials business is very busy, so I left the sand supply in the community to my younger brother Tong Moumou, and I didn't participate during my spare time. Whenever the owners were uncooperative, we would inform them that we had signed an exclusive supply contract with the property company. Specific matters were handled by Wang Mou and Han Mou..."
However, Tong Mou's statement was refuted by Du Mou, the former head of the property management company in the community. Du Mou indicated that before Tong Mou, there were also sand霸s at the entrance of the community. After Tong Mou drove them away, he started forcing sales at the entrance of the community, and the property management didn't dare to interfere.
Sand霸 confessed: Always carried a backpack containing baseball bats and hunting knives
The prosecutor handling the case explained that after investigation, it was found that the sand霸 gang purchased a truckload of sand (about 8-9 cubic meters) for around 500 yuan, and sold it in the community for 90 yuan per cubic meter; and deliberately filled only half the normal volume. Lime cost 270 yuan per ton when purchased, and was sold for 400 yuan per ton. Despite repeated complaints from the owners, they faced threats or intimidation, leaving many owners with no choice but to remain silent. "From November 2009 to May 2010, the defendants admitted to making over 80,000 yuan in profits in just six months, with boss Tong Mou earning 60,000 yuan, and the rest receiving over 10,000 yuan each." "We indeed intimidated the owners, but never expected selling sand would cause such a big issue, being labeled as sand霸s..." Yang Mou, a member of the gang, confessed to the police after being arrested in Dalic County on July 23rd this year.
Another member, Wang Mou, surrendered to the Xin Cheng police on July 19th this year. Wang admitted that they had clear divisions in selling sand. Boss Tong Mou was responsible for coordinating external relations and giving remote instructions. He and Han Mou were responsible for intimidating on-site, Yang Mou and Ma Moulong were responsible for watching the sand, and Tong Moumou was responsible for collecting money and keeping accounts. Due to insufficient weight of the sand and poor quality of lime, some owners in the community secretly bought supplies themselves. Before Pan Xuesheng was injured, there had been multiple incidents in the community where owners were bullied for buying construction materials themselves. "When we saw owners not obeying, we would threaten them. I knew this kind of business was definitely wrong," Wang told the police. They always carried backpacks at the entrance of the community, filled with baseball bats and hunting knives and other weapons, fearing they might be at a disadvantage during disputes with the owners, and were ready to use 'violence' to stop them. Our newspaper reporter Song Feihong
The incident on May 28th last year in a residential area in the northern part of the city where a sand霸 injured an owner, in Dalic County, drew strong attention from law enforcement. Upon learning that the owner was injured, Tong Mou, the mastermind behind the sand霸 gang, surrendered himself under legal pressure. Xi'an Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee member and Mayor Du Hangwei explicitly stated that it is necessary to strictly crack down on illegal activities such as forced transactions, extortion, and market bullying.
All pages of our newspaper's reports on sand霸s last year
Review of Xi'an's crackdown on sand霸s in 2010
On May 28th last year, the owner of Baoyi Fengguang Dayuan was chased and slashed by sand霸s for buying sand inside the community. After the incident, our newspaper launched a special report titled "Crackdown on Sand霸s," which drew widespread attention from law enforcement and relevant authorities.
Xi'an Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee member and Mayor Du Hangwei explicitly stated that it is necessary to strictly crack down on illegal activities such as forced transactions, extortion, and market bullying.
On June 3rd, 2010, Xi'an issued a "Notice on Carefully Investigating and Striking Illegal Activities Such as Forced Transactions and Market Bullying," and on June 4th held a city-wide meeting to comprehensively deploy and implement measures. On June 8th, the Xi'an police announced five new actions, not only cracking down on sand霸s and other illegal activities but also targeting village bullies and various forms of market bullying and industry bullying in rural areas.
At the same time, the Xi'an Housing Security and Property Management Bureau stated that if property companies are found to be involved in forced sales of building materials such as sand and gravel, their industry qualifications will be revoked upon verification.
The Xi'an Industry and Commerce Department also launched a three-month special campaign across the city to crack down on sand霸s.