What’s worse than having someone break into your home and steal all your cash and valuables? If you are a Chinese Communist Party official, it’s having people find out just how much money the thieves made off with.
This week Caixin reported on something of a sequel to the Tarantino-esque gang of robbers who received attention last week for preying on corrupt officials reluctant to report robberies. Only this time, the setting is in Dalian, Liaoning, and instead of a two-year spree of robberies, the gang only broke into two houses before being caught. Sequels are never as good as the originals.
The two victims were Li Shengjun, director of Dalian’s Fiscal Bureau, and Xu Lixin, director of Dalian’s Food and Drug Administration. Both had around one million RMB looted from their homes. According to local officials, bureau level officials in Dalian make around 7,000 RMB a month.
The leader of the gang was right in thinking that the officials would be hesitant to call up the police and try to explain the math of how that makes sense. The robbery on Li’s home went off without a hitch or phone call. Xu’s home, with a fancy security system, proved to be more of a challenge. So, the gang turned it up a notch and kidnapped Xu’s wife to gain access. But with his wife missing, Xu did call the authorities and the gang was quickly arrested.
With all the vigilante, half-Robin Hoods running amok corrupt officials will have to think about beefing up their security.
Alex Linder
[Image via The Guardian]
