Thaindian News

Beijing, June 2 (IANS) A gang of 46 thieves in eastern China has only women. Of them, 22 are pregnant while the rest are suckling mothers, a Chinese daily said.

The 46 women are all aged between 20 and 40. They allegedly committed about 300 to 400 thefts in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, and the value of the stolen goods is estimated to be around 370,000 yuan ($57,000), the Qianjiang Evening News reported.

The gang from Hunan province went on trial earlier this week. The stolen goods were seized by police and returned to their rightful owners.

Police said one of the suspects had been caught 47 times, while another had been pregnant eight times in the past 10 years. When caught, police would release them on bail because of their body condition.

A senior police official said that since police stations do not have adequate medical facilities to deal with problems when detaining a pregnant woman, authorities rented an entire floor of a hospital in Hangzhou to detain the suspects.

During detention, when police learnt the gang members had many abortions each, they organised lectures by law and medicine experts to explain the harmful effects of the process.

“Initially most of them didn’t want to talk. But after we told them about the harm they had done to their health, they changed their attitude and often talked to us. Some even cried after the class,” a police official said.