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Police exorcise thieves posing as Buddhist nuns
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-17 09:13

Authorities have closed the net on a gang of women thieves who dressed up as Buddhist nuns to cheat residents or steal their valuables as they pretended to free them from evil spirits and other malign influences in their homes.

Over the past week, the gang of 20, headed by an Anhui province woman surnamed Zhou, robbed many households in Beijing.

One family was fleeced of as much as 100,000 yuan ($14,550) during a prayer session performed by two "nuns".

Zhou is said to have instructed the women each morning and assembled them each night to review their modus operandi.

Police in Shijingshan district traced them to their lair and arrested them all.

(Beijing Morning Post)