Prosecutors in Minhang District of Shanghai yesterday charged a couple with teaching criminal skills to a group of children they tricked into coming to the city from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

The couple, Tu Tianchi and his wife Li Li, taught a dozen children, some as young as 6 years old, to pick pockets, and then put them to work in busy downtown areas such as People's Square and the Shanghai Railway Station, according to prosecutor Lu Qinjian.

Prosecutors say they are still investigating the case, and Tu and Li could face other charges in the future. Prosecutors believe the couple may have had criminal bosses, who haven't been identified yet.

Tu, 35, gave up his civil servant job in Ningxia two years ago to earn more money in the private sector, prosecutors said.

In July 2005, he learned that a friend made a bundle in Beijing by teaching children to pick pockets and hand over the loot to him, and decided he would do the same thing in Shanghai, prosecutors allege.

Tu first called some friends in his hometown and asked them to form a gang and send some skillful children to him in Shanghai. He also tricked some parents into bringing their children to Shanghai by offering them jobs, prosecutors said.

When the children, who range in ages from 6 to 11 years old, arrived in the city in January, Tu and Li allegedly began to teach them how to slip money out of pockets and purses without being caught.

Parents who had escorted their children to the city were allegedly locked in a room at gunpoint and not allowed to leave.

Children who couldn't master pickpocketing skills were sometimes beaten or not allowed to eat, prosecutors said.

After a few days' training, the children were sent out to downtown areas where adults monitored them and made sure they met a quota based on their skill levels, according to prosecutors.

Those that didn't meet the quota were beaten and refused food, while those that surpassed the quota were awarded with a bowl of beef noodles, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors wouldn't say yesterday how much money the children were able to steal in total. The children and their parents have all returned home. If found guilty of teaching criminal skills to children, Tu and his wife face more than five years in jail.

(Shanghai Daily August 29, 2006)