By reporter Li Jun, with contributions from Li Li and Zhu Weikun
The "exam mercenaries" who harbored侥幸 Zhang Tanghai, Zhao Zhijian, Zheng Wei, and Meng Daobo have now all lost their nerve! They can only wait for legal judgment in the detention center. At the end of July, they were arrested by the Yuelu District People's Procuratorate of Changsha on suspicion of illegally obtaining state secrets.
[Case Review] On June 25th this year, the High-tech Zone Branch of the Changsha Public Security Bureau received a report that at the Hunan International Economics University test site for the 2010 annual Hunan Province Second-level Constructor Professional Qualification Examination, someone was attempting to cheat using radio devices.
After receiving the case, the police immediately conducted a surprise inspection around the test site. At 11 PM that night, they arrested the criminal suspects Zhao Zhijian and Ding Mou, and seized the wireless equipment they used for cheating. According to Zhao Zhijian's confession, the police arrested the criminal suspect Zhang Tanghai in the early hours of June 26th, followed by the arrest of the criminal suspects Zheng Wei and Liao Moumou, and also seized the tools used in the crime on the spot.
Zhang Tanghai and Zhao Zhijian confessed that some of their tools came from a person surnamed Lin (in fact, Meng Daobo). In the morning of June 26th, the police arrested Meng Daobo, who came to sell cheating equipment near Hunan International Economics University, and subsequently seized a large amount of radio equipment stored by Meng in Huanghe Community in Yuelu District. On the same day, the public security organs launched an investigation into the case.
Upon investigation, it was found that on April 28th this year, Yuan Moumou and Luo Moumou, the person in charge of the Changsha Qiangsheng Education Training Center, signed a contract with Zhao Zhijian. Zhao would help four candidates use wireless devices to cheat in this year's Hunan Province Supervising Engineer Professional Qualification Examination, charging a fee of 8,000 yuan, and agreeing that each candidate would pay an additional service fee of 1,500 yuan per subject after passing the exam.
During the exam, Zhao Zhijian sent people to the exam room to secretly photograph the questions using a pinhole camera. After Zhang Tanghai received them, he transmitted them via the internet to the "mercenaries" hired in advance. The "mercenaries" then made the answers and sent them back to Zhang Tanghai. Zhang then sent the answers through his mobile phone to Zhao Zhijian, Liao Moumou, Zheng Wei, and others, who then used wireless walkie-talkies, radios, and digital terminal transmitters to transmit the answers to the wireless earphones and rubber-type wireless text displays of the cheating candidates inside the exam room.
In May this year, Zhang Tanghai and Zhao Zhijian planned to use the same method to help 48 candidates taking the Hunan Province Second-level Constructor Professional Qualification Examination cheat, but unfortunately, their plan was exposed.
The criminal suspects Zhang Tanghai, Zhao Zhijian, Meng Daobo, Zheng Wei, Liao Moumou, Luo Moumou, Yuan Moumou, and Ding Mou confessed to their crimes of using wireless devices to cheat in exams. Due to relatively minor offenses, Liao Moumou, Luo Moumou, Yuan Moumou, and Ding Mou were legally given other forms of punishment.
[Controversy Focus] Does capturing exam questions inside the exam room for cheating constitute a crime?
[Prosecutor's Explanation] Ma Da, the prosecutor responsible for this case at the Yuelu District People's Procuratorate, said that according to the Ministry of Education's "Interpretation of the Term 'Before Activation' in the Regulations on the Scope of State Secrets in Educational Work," questions (including alternate questions), reference answers, and grading standards for various higher and secondary education national unified examinations before activation are classified as top-secret matters. "Before activation" specifically refers to the time period before the candidates leave the examination room as stipulated. In this case, the suspects captured the exam questions during the examination process for cheating, and their actions violated state secrets.
According to Article 282 of the Criminal Law, those who illegally obtain state secrets through theft, espionage, or bribery commit the crime of illegal acquisition of state secrets. Therefore, the suspects involved in this case have violated the law and are suspected of committing a crime.
[Kind Reminder] Do not harbor侥幸and cheat in exams. This case is enough to warn "exam mercenaries": your behavior has constituted a crime.