Four men charged with abduction

Prosecutors have charged four people for illegally detaining two men at a cemetery and at a hotel, the Jiading District People's Prosecutor's Office said in a press release Friday.

One of the defendants, surnamed Sun, met one of the victims, surnamed Huang, who claimed that he could get money out of credit cards. Huang promised to help Sun apply for a 100,000-yuan ($16,060) credit card and then give Sun a 45,000-yuan reward. The rest of the money would belong to Huang.

Sun, who was planning to open a store, was happy to accept the deal. He also followed Huang's suggestion to get his wife and relatives involved with the plan.

However, after Sun's wife and more than 10 of their relatives arrived from their hometown, Huang and his partner, surnamed Li, told the crowd that they were unable to help them get the credit cards. The crowd demanded Huang compensate them for their transportation and hotel expenses. However, Huang refused and went to leave.

Sun claimed that Huang had promised to compensate his relatives if he could not get them the credit cards. The crowd took away Huang's cellphone, and took him and Li away in a vehicle. They detained the two men in a cemetery in Minhang district and beat them until they wrote IOUs and called their relatives to make bank transfers about three hours later.

Sun took Huang and Li to a hotel room while another defendant, surnamed Song, withdrew 4,700 yuan from their bank cards. Sun detained the two until he and his family members received a bank transfer of 2,000 yuan from one of Huang's relatives.

Huang called the police after he was released. The crowd refused to cooperate with police while they were being arrested. They claimed that they were only trying to get back the money they were owed.

Prosecutors suggested that residents turn to the authorities rather than use violence to resolve their disputes.