4 men executed for deadly robbery

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-19 00:37

HEFEI: Four men have been executed for robbing traffic police of fines cash and killing two police employees, a court in east China's Anhui province said Tuesday.

The four, including three who had just finished their prison terms, carried out the robbery in May 2007.

They were sentenced to death by the Intermediate People's Court in Suzhou city on February 2, 2008, and the death penalty was upheld after the four appealed, a spokesman from the Suzhou court said.

In May 2007, Shan Shuquan and his co-worker Zhang Changzheng planned to rob the traffic police on duty of their fines, considering it might be "big money" and traffic police were usually not well guarded.

Shan then invited Wang Baoyu and Shi Jiyao, whom he met behind in prison, into the robbery.

At 3 am May 15, the four men came to the patrolling area and attacked two police employees and a police officer with knives and clubs. They got 7,800 yuan fines ($1,141.37 dollars) from the robbery.

The two police employees were killed and the officer was injured.

A robbery targeting police is rare in China and the case was widely reported.