Brick kiln slavery suspect is captured
Police have caught a man accused of starving and beating workers to keep them enslaved at brick kilns, state media reported, in a case that has shocked China and exposed links between Communist Party officials and the kiln owners.
The New China News Agency also said that “another 20 slave laborers at brick kilns and other illegal workplaces in north China’s Shanxi province” had been freed, bringing to 568 the total number of workers freed in Shanxi and neighboring Henan province.
It said Heng Tinghan, accused of using slave workers since March, was captured in central China’s Hubei province after a nationwide hunt.
More than 20,000 police officers were deployed in Shanxi.
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