The World - News from May 9, 1989

Hundreds of special police are riding China’s railways in a bid to combat a dramatic increase in robberies aboard trains this year, many by organized gangs who boldly mug passengers and steal freight, an official magazine reported. The state-run Beijing Review, an English-language weekly, quoted public security and railway officials as reporting 1,800 robberies aboard trains in the first three months of 1989, an 89% increase over the same period last year.