Editor’s Note     

    Last week, Shenzhen police smashed a mafia-style organization in a coordinated raid in Shajing, Bao’an District. Liu Shaoxiong, Party chief and director of Shajing Subdistrict Office, was detained for violations of discipline. The ringleader Chen Yaodong, nicknamed Brother Dragon, was also arrested. Liu was said to be protecting the ringleader.

    Besides raiding and closing several clubs, police also investigated the villas that Brother Dragon had built along the Bogang Reservoir and the “royal palace” which was hidden in his scrap yard.

    LIU SHAOXIONG, former Party chief of Shajing Subdistrict, was accused of protecting ringleader Brother Dragon, Chen Yaodong, and his gang, according to a report by the Daily Sunshine quoting Shajing residents.

    After the arrest of Brother Dragon, an official surnamed Chen, who was responsible for construction projects in Shajing, was also arrested.

    According to residents in Shajing, Brother Dragon was a driver from the Chaozhou-Shantou area. He came to Shenzhen in the 1990s and worked in the scrap recycling business.

    After 2000, Brother Dragon acquired a recycling company from his boss and started running it himself.

    According to real estate agents, besides brandname developers like Vanke, the housing market in Shajing was monopolized by Brother Dragon. He purchased cheap land from villages where government supervision is notoriously slack and developed them.

    Construction of the illegal buildings was temporarily halted because of media reports.

    Brother Dragon also owned shares in several night clubs attached to four-star hotels in Shajing. In an action last week in Yintong Business Hotel, police loaded four trucks with valuable treasures including gold, jewelry and jade products from a room belonging to Brother Dragon.

    According to the Daily Sunshine, Brother Dragon burned a substantial amount of cash and attempted to flee the country when he was caught.

    The Bogang Reservoir is situated behind Bogang community industrial zone. According to villagers, Brother Dragon owned six villas in the area. He was given the right to build villas within the range of the reservoir, which is forbidden by laws, because of the influence he wielded. The villas were designed by well-known designers and equipped with luxury facilities such as a karaoke room, a sauna, a gambling room, and a swimming pool.

    Police also sealed a three-story building in Bao’an Recycling Resources Co. at the end of Gangtou Road in Bogang last week. The innocuous-looking building had a lavishly decorated interior and was used by gang members for entertainment. It was called “royal palace” and wasn’t open to outsiders. The building is located beside a golf driving range near Shajing Park and has a swimming pool. Inside the building, Brother Dragon hired retired soldiers as his personal trainers and body guards.

    According to informants, Brother Dragon also hired second-line models and actresses from performance companies in Chengdu and Chongqing. The girls had to be 170 cm tall to be selected and their jobs were to accompany gang members.

    Shenzhen police said in a release that it had set up a task force to handle the case, and refused to give further comment as the case is still under investigation. (Han Ximin)