Gong Nanmin (second left in the first row) goes on trial at the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, January 23, 2008. [Photo: xkb.com.cn]

Twelve members of a notorious crime gang went on trial yesterday in Guangzhou, the Guangdong provincial capital.

Reading aloud from an 11-page indictment, the prosecution accused Deng Weibo and Gong Nanmin, the two leaders of the gang, and their cohorts of organizing secret societies, illegally producing, owning and trading weapons, gathering to engage in fights, injuring and blackmailing people and other serious crimes between the second half of 2004 and the first half of last year.

After an investigation lasting more than six months, police finally busted the gang on May 21 last year.

Sixteen gang members were arrested in police raids in the Haizhu, Liwan districts of Guangzhou and its Conghua suburb.

Police also destroyed a secret gun-making facility in the city where they found 27 replica pistols and other part-finished weapons, 558 bullets, various tools and equipment and a radio transmitter.

It was the largest weapon production and trafficking case ever cracked in the province.

Police said Deng and Gong first got involved in organized crime in the second half of 2004 when they operated a protection racket to monopolize the meat and vegetable bazaar in the Lijiao township of Haizhu district.

In December 2004, they converted a former mold factory in the Liwan district into an illegal gun-making facility.

The pair even required their gang members to wear uniforms, sport the same hairstyle and carry walkie-talkies, police said.

At the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court yesterday, Deng and Gong denied all charges.

A court official declined to comment on the case.

A verdict has yet to be reached.

Chen Wenda, a lawyer from Guangzhou, said he expected the court to hand down heavy punishments as a deterrent to others.

"Organizing secret societies, illegally producing, trafficking and trading weapons, and injuring and blackmailing people are all serious crimes," he said.

(China Daily January 24, 2008)