The owner of a teahouse in Shanghai's Hongkou District who used the threat of violence to extort money from foreign visitors to his premises has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison, the Hongkou District People's Court said yesterday.
The defendant, surnamed Xue, employed attractive young women "escorts" to lure unwitting victims to his cafe on Daming Road and drink with them, prosecutors said.
Once inside the premises, the customers were charged exorbitant prices for their drinks, while spurious other items were added to their bills, the court heard.
In one instance, a Dutchman who visited the teahouse in April last year was forced to pay almost 33,000 yuan ($5,000) for just four cans of beer.
He was told by Xue and his two henchmen that the bill included the use of a "private room" and the company of two female escorts, prosecutors said.
In a similar incident the following day, a German man fell victim to the same crime and was made to pay 6,000 yuan for three cans of beer, prosecutors said.
Later the same month and acting on a tip-off from a member of the public, Hongkou police raided Xue's premises, where they caught him and his accomplices in the act of trying to extort money from a third victim, a visitor from the United States.
The teahouse owner, his male sidekicks and a woman surnamed Zhong who was responsible for recruiting and managing the escorts were all sentenced to prison terms of not less than 18 months.
