Yang Runde, 36, a native of south China's Guangdong Province, was also found guilty of robbery and shooting at the police to resist arrest, according to a recent report by Beijing Morning Post.

Two of Yang's collaborators, Lan Yukun and Lin Shibao, were jailed for life and 15 years respectively. The court had showed leniency to Yang as he provided vital clues for the police during the investigation of the case, the newspaper said.

The Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court confirmed that between July 1999 and January 2001 Yang and his colleagues had stolen cars in several urban districts of Beijing and also in the neighboring municipality of Tianjin.

Yang and his men were apprehended by the police in January 2001when they were attempting to steal a Honda car in Dongcheng district of Beijing.

In recent years, with an increasing number of urban Chinese purchasing private cars, the number of car thefts and the amount of money involved have soared to record highs.

Most stolen cars had no proper anti-theft devices and the lax management of some parking lots also helped thieves, court officials were quoted as saying.

(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2002)