HIV-positive patients used for demolition, debt collection

Cui Hong (pseudonym), 48, an AIDS sufferer since 2008, turned himself in to the Henan police after hiding in the wild for two days.

"I received a phone call on the night of December 22 telling me to run away as the 'AIDS demolition' thing has escalated," Cui was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency on December 28.

Cui was under detention for joining a notorious "AIDS demolition team" in Nanyang, Henan Province that threatened to infect residents who refuse to move out of their houses.

The six-member team, which was organized by a local construction project leader under a real estate developing company named Yi'an, harassed residents who refused to sign demolition contracts by setting off firecrackers in the compound at midnight and shooting residents' windows with slingshots and steel ball bearings. The demolition team even brandished their AIDS identity cards, used for patients to get medicine and treatment in clinics, in an attempt to intimidate residents.

The incident triggered public outcry after a piece of graffiti reading "AIDS demolition team" went viral on Weibo in early December. The sign was reportedly found written in a community slated for demolition under a government plan.

After both domestic and foreign media widely covered the story, the local government issued disciplinary warnings to four government officials for dereliction of duty, and local police detained five suspects and are pursing more, Xinhua reported.

But this was not the end of the story. Xinhua revealed that officials from local government organs including district housing and construction bureau were allegedly on the company's "bonus distribution list" and some other officials and police officers went to several banquets held by the company.

In Henan Province, known for having a high number of HIV/AIDS carriers infected through illegal blood banks, organizing those sufferers in groups to threaten others as part of forced demolition or debt collection has reportedly been common for many years.

AIDS threat

A police officer from Nanyang told the Beijing News that HIV/AIDS patients have been used in demolition and debt collection for over a decade.

In debt collections, the patients would follow the debtors every day and take out their AIDS identity cards. If the debtors still refused to pay, the team would spit at their houses or threaten to infect them with a syringe containing red liquid.

Most of those patients were from places like Zhumadian and Pingyu in Henan, and they were also taken to big cities like Wuhan in Hubei Province or Guangzhou in Guanggong Province to collect debts for some firms, the police officer said.