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Sports students: we are strong to grab thieves
By Guan Xiaomeng (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-02-05 09:13
When you see thieves reaching out their evil hands to people, are you geared
to help? If no, don't fret, for there are others to take your place.
"When I see thieves in the act, I can't help stewing myself into flooring
them," said a young man, pulling up his sleeves and flexing his muscles.
The young man and his fellow buddies are neither policemen nor other
thief-catching experts. Instead, they are college students --sports majors
chomping at the bit to tackle thieves.
Several male students of the Guangzhou Physical Education Institute
volunteered to organize a group, aiming to fight thieves preying on people near
their campus. "Everyone is obligated to fight crimes, let alone us, seeing that
we are sports students who are strong enough to fight thieves," they believe.
More than 20 students have joined the group and have caught 7 thieves in 4
attacks over a period of more than a month. No theft has been recovered,
however. The group has thrown all seven thieves at the disposal of the police.
The thieves are habitual convicts that usually wander about street
intersections near their campus, looking for cars waiting at lights.
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A thief skitters away after grabbing a
passenger's handbag while the passenger's car is waiting at lights. |
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The thieves are also professional. They rush to waiting cars, seize the car
doors open, and then grab passengers' belongings (in the case of rolled-down car
windows, they just stick their arms into the window and grab the things). Then,
with theft in their hands, they skitter off across the street, down the opposite
street and disappear, before passengers can even shout for help.
One of the group leaders, a track and field major named "A Ye," said he and
others from the group perched atop the roof of the facing building to watch the
thieves in action, trying to see how the criminals operate.
A Ye found the thieves would hang around the bus station of the campus,
waiting for red lights. "The most irritating thing is they wouldn't run away
after stealing from a person; instead, they always streamed back to steal more."
Another group leader, a large 1.8-meter-tall student named" A Fang," added
the stealing mop is in a group ranging from 5 to 6 to even a score and conduct
their "business" from 9 pm to 12 midnight.
"I was so eager to teach them a lesson that I nearly planned our course of
action every night in my dreams," said A Fang, clenching his fists. "As sports
students we are strong enough to catch them."
When asked why they didn't ask the police for help, A Ye explained they would
stand aside if the police came. In the meantime, he said, "we will give the
caught thieves to the police."
The students began to carefully plan their actions after they caught none in
their first attempt. "Everyone should be patient enough in their designated task
to wait for the best chance," said A Fang, summing up the lessons from their
failure.
In the second attempt, the boys divided themselves into 7 groups and waited
in ambush separately at the four corners at the crossroad with A Fang observing
the whole scene on the building roof. A Fang's job was to alert his fellow guys
via cell phone once the thieves got the theft.
A Fang, one of the group leader watches the
thieves in action at the top of one building opposite the street
where the thieves appear. |
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"We wanted to catch them red-handed," A Fang explained.
However, their second attack ended with 4 men caught but without any theft.
It was a furious fight. One group member, good at wushu kung fu, stuck a heavy
blow on the back of one thief's neck. The robber fell down to the ground and was
detained until being taken away by the police.
"We warned our members not to beat the robbers with our full strength. The
important thing is evidence, anyway," A Ye said.
They caught another three men in their fourth attempt but again failed to
find the theft. Some passers-by and other schoolmates rushed to bully the
thieves, already beaten down to the ground, but A Ye and A Fang quickly stopped
the furious people.
Some students have questioned the group's good deeds, saying it is none of
their business. A Ye, however, ignored the doubts, saying: "At least, people are
safer with some of the thieves caught," he said. "As we will soon graduate, we
want to do something for the city before we leave."
Despite their contribution to the city, A Fang still fear that things will
get out of control if a mob of people would ever insist on pouring their fury
onto the robbers.
The local police also expressed their worry despite speaking positively of
the students' social morality. One policeman said these young men are acting on
the base of their hot-blooded youthful character so they may get themselves hurt
or hurt the criminals badly (it is a violation of the Criminal Law to beat
outlaws to disability or death) because of a lack of professional training.
The university official said students are not encouraged to do such things as
their jobs, as "study is their main task." The official added, however, that the
group's courage is a good expression of modern university students' fine spirit.
A criminal expert explained that anti-outlaw groups like this student group,
though not professional, have their influence on public security. If well
guided, non-official groups will become more instrumental in helping the
government fight against criminals.
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