Beggar 'boss' accused of forcing disabled to beg  

揭秘北京“丐帮”帮主：存款百万坐飞机头等舱

利用网络等，将各地的聋哑人召集在一起，然后扣押他们的身份证，通过威胁、殴打、体罚等方式，以“爱心捐款”为由，组织聋哑人分组在首都国际机场乞讨，“丐帮”帮主年获利百余万元。昨天，“丐帮”帮主王志刚、于东东、张志国，均因涉嫌组织残疾人乞讨罪在朝阳法院刑二庭受审。[查看全文]

Wang Zhigang, a 33-year-old deaf and mute individual, stood trial on Thursday in Beijing for organizing other deaf and mute individuals to beg, from which he gained more than one million yuan (about 160,000 US dollars), the Beijing Times reports.

Wang and two other accomplices, Yu Dongdong and Zhang Zhiguo, were accused of threatening and abusing more than 20 disabled people and forcing them to beg at Beijing Capital International Airport from August 2011 to September 2013. Zhang was in charge of those begging.

Wang contacted the group of disabled individuals via the Internet and seized their ID cards in order to force them to beg in a group and hand in whatever they received as a result of begging every few days.

Zhang Zhiguo said he asked the four beggars who were under his leadership to hand in one to two thousand yuan per day. Up to 30 yuan was given to each beggar on a daily basis to cover their living expenses, while the rest of money was pocketed by Wang Zhigang.

Wang alleged that the money would be used for helping other disabled people. But the police found that during the nine-month period, Zhang deposited more than 1.3 million yuan into his personal bank account, enjoyed first-class flights and ate expensive food as part of his regular life.

The three suspects were arrested last September.

The prosecution team suggests sentencing them to one to two years in jail.