XI'AN: A man suspected of murdering 10 people and wanted under a national
Class A warrant has been arrested after being at large for over a month.
Farmer Qiu Xinghua is alleged to have killed nine men and one woman on July
15.
Qiu Xinghua is escorted to a detention center when he was arrested
after 35 days on the run. [Dongnan
Kuaibao] |
He confessed to the crimes after
being captured on Saturday evening by Shaanxi police at a house he rented in
Foping, Shaanxi Province, said Li Tianle, a spokesman for the Shaanxi Provincial
Public Security Department Sunday.
"Our policemen and local officials made continuous efforts in the past 34
days in this deep mountainous area to search for the suspect," the spokesman
said.
Further investigations are ongoing, local police said.
Qiu Xinghua, 47, from Yixincun Village in Shiquan County, was working and
living in Daheba Town in Foping County. Both the counties are in mountainous
areas in southern Shaanxi.
On the evening of July 15, Qiu is said to have killed 10 people, nine male
and one female, aged between 12 and 62. The murders are alleged to have happened
in a temple at the top of a mountain near Qiu's hometown. The victims were
temple workers and local farmers.
The police do not yet know the motive for the killings.
The Shaanxi Provincial Public Security sent a team led by Wang Rui, director
of the department, to the site for an investigation.
After two days, the police believed Qiu was a suspect but discovered he had
escaped, Li said.
On July 26, the Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Department and the
Ministry of Public Security issued a class A arrest warrant and offered a reward
of 50,000 yuan (US$6,165). On August 5, the reward was increased to 100,000 yuan
(US$12,330).
On August 2, one of Qiu's fellow villagers said they saw him hiding in the
forest near the village and reported that to local police.
However, local police did not catch the suspect that day so a large-scale
hunt began in the area. More than 200 police officers searched the mountains
where there are dense forests and deep valleys, the police spokesman said.
The hunt did not stop, despite the intense heat, in the mountains which Qiu
knew well, until he was arrested by four policemen who were waiting in his
rented house in Foping County.
"We heard a knock at the door when we were hiding in the house at about
8:20pm on Saturday evening and then found the man outside was Qiu. We caught him
and found a knife on him," said Xiong Hanbin, one of the four policemen who
arrested the suspect.
