Do you have a license to be a thief?

In 2002, I worked for a daily newspaper in Guangzhou.

One day, a self-proclaimed “African” man, do not know through what way to touch the newspaper, said to “news”, that there is a “thief training center” in the xin Shi Hui.

I thought I heard the wrong, maybe some education and training center made some kind of theft dispute?

But hearing him say what had happened, we went together to call the police.

“Afei, you are a transferred soldier, how can you attend such a training?” “I asked, puzzled, on the way back.

“Well, I’ve been cheated…” “He said helplessly.

1

Afei was from Henan province. He was a soldier. He was in his mid-20s, very fit, and he was about 1.8 metres tall.

After leaving the army, he worked on construction sites for a few months before he wanted to make a fortune in Guangdong. Unexpectedly, a guangzhou railway station, a large group of sister aunts will come around, some of them called him to stay, some called him to take a ride. Fei, with his luggage, managed to push his way through the crowd.

At this time, he has begun to worry: Guangzhou is arrived, but where is his work? In such a big guangzhou, there are tens of millions of people, but there is no one who can give his name.

He didn’t think too far ahead. He just wanted to find a job with food on it. A little sister suddenly flashed in front of his eyes, little sister is not beautiful, but her hand with a big card but attracted the eyes of Afie – card above a few big words: recruitment security, bodyguards. There is a line of small words below the big word: the package eats the package, does not charge the registration fee.

Afie approached to ask cautiously: “You… For security?”

“You…… Do you want to… What for?” The little sister suddenly looked back and saw a man standing silently behind her, with a bit of fright on his face.

See little sister this reaction, not the heart of the alert disappeared, but breed some confidence. “Don’t be afraid, fellow,” He said to her in a soldier’s voice, trying to convince her of himself. I’m not a bad guy. I’m a soldier in the People’s Liberation Army, a new soldier. Look, I have credentials.”

He took out his discharge card from his pocket and handed it to his little sister. It has the age, the photograph, looks more reliable than the ID card.

The timid little sister glanced at the certificate, as if dealing with a police interrogation, and quickly explained: “I know, I didn’t do anything, you… What are you doing?”

“Isn’t your company looking for security and bodyguards?”

“Our company? … Ah, yes, yes. But Manager Chen hired me. I’m here to help. He didn’t say he’d hire you.”

See little sister so not on the road, Africa thought, this may be a new employee.

Afei had to be patient to further explain: “I’m looking for a job ah. You hire security guards, bodyguards, I can do it. You see, I have been a monitor of the People’s Liberation Army, led more than a dozen people, the body can be strong.

Afee said this, and immediately squatted down in a position of combat.

“Wow, that’s amazing! However, our company must first train, get the certificate can work.” Little younger sister said.

“You have training? Training costs a lot of money, right?” Africa once a little suspicious: is not a fraud training fee? Let a person enter groom class first, paid groom cost, come again finally unqualified cannot mount guard. I’ve heard of this routine.

Little sister shook her head: “To be trained, but not for money. If unqualified, the training shall be carried out until qualified. Unless, after you have passed the training, and refuse to work, you have to pay some living and training expenses – can’t let the company training you, but also to eat cover?”

‘That’s, that’s! Fei heard here, excited nod, thought: little sister said reasonable, if the training package eat package live, training qualified and do not go to work, not cheat eat cheat drink people? This seems to be a very demanding company.

After a rough understanding of the situation, not more than a while, Afei followed the little sister called A Ling, came to the xin Shi Hui of a 6-story old building, saw that a Ling called “Manager Chen” man.

‘Is he all right? Manager Chen saw A fei, a contemptuous face to a Ling asked.

Although this person looks wretched, but a long face, look and attitude is very serious, or a Fei zhen. In order to let Chen manager believe in their own ability, African and ready to do a squat combat action to demonstrate their own in the army. He was about to continue when Manager Chen pinched his arm with a hand and began to ask questions.

“Are you fast?”

“Run?” Afei listened, stunned for a moment, some can not feel sense, but he still honestly replied, “compared with professional athletes, certainly not as good. It’s much faster than the average person. In the army we often have to train for the 5km and the 100-metre sprint.”

“Did you suffer? When a security guard, bodyguard, money is a lot of. But that is the surface, in fact, is to eat a lot of bitter. For example, sleeping, the boss sleeps in the villa, you may sleep in the hallway; The boss gave a banquet and you had to eat steamed bread.”

“No problem, on the site of migrant workers’ food, I have eaten for two months, every meal in addition to rice, is a bowl of wax gourd without oil, can be full!”

“Of course it’s ok to eat. If you don’t eat, can you run?” Manager Chen smiled in a strange way. “Besides, A Ling told you that we are recruiting senior bodyguards and need training. But if you learn our skills, refuse to accept the company’s work arrangement, or even leave the company without permission and go to a private employer to find a job, our training fee will be wasted…”

“This can’t be. I originally came to Guangdong to find a job.” “Said Afei quickly.

“Line, sensible is good, when that time, don’t say I Chen some cross the river burn a bridge.”

Manager Chen then called Ling aside, quietly gave her a few words, gave her some money, and let her go.

Originally, A Ling manager Chen invited temporary, mainly to the railway station to recruit people.

2

After Ling left, Manager Chen took Fei upstairs. At the foot of the stairs on the sixth floor, there were two indifferent men, each guarding one side. When they saw Mr. Chen, they smiled obsequiously.

Manager Chen did not pay attention to them, with African up to the 6th floor. There were several rooms on the floor full of men, all lean and strong. This reminds Him of just manager Chen asked himself whether he ran fast, thinking: it seems that to be a big boss’s personal bodyguard, not only to have strength, figure standard, more important is to run fast. Otherwise, how can you be on call and serve the boss?

“Afei, you come with me, I take you to go through the entrance formalities.” Manager Chen said, he took the fei to the 6th floor, the most inside of a room. All the other rooms had wooden doors, but this one was an iron one. Mr. Chen took a key from his pocket and opened the door.

Fei was about to follow in, suddenly found himself behind do not know when more than two big men, each eye dew sinister light, let Fei’s whole body suddenly add a wisp of cool.

Manager Chen beckoned To Him to come in. Inside, there was nothing but a bed, and by the side of the bed was a built-up chest with a number of little Windows, each of which was locked.

Manager Chen opened a small empty cabinet. “Afei, this is the locker. You put all your important stuff here. After all, this is a dormitory, and there is no place to keep belongings in the dormitory. When you lose your own things, it’s easy to get into trouble with your colleagues. Of course, after you lock the empty cabinet, keep the key yourself, and no one will touch your things.”

“This –” Afil a listen, some hesitation — again how to say, his money and documents on the side, always feel more practical, a quick brain, Afil find a lame reason, asked, “That if I want to use money, buy snacks?”

“Just come and get it. You have the key. Moreover, here is a closed training, food and shelter, even if you want to go out, you must ask for leave first, approved.” Manager Chen’s answer is very reasonable and hard to refute.

Although African hesitate, but looked back at the two cold face behind the big man, suddenly feel weak – even if they are bad, now really want to rob things, their resistance is a dead end.

So, African had to comply with the requirements of the manager Chen, the body of money and certificates all locked into the cabinet. Then he clutched the key in his hand and prayed to himself, These are not bad people.

Come out from “safe room”, manager Chen and others don’t how tube Fei Fei. There were four rooms occupied by a dozen people, all men of his own age. There were no beds, only mattresses on the floor, and presumably this was where the students slept.

Afie tried to look on the bright side: this kind of living environment may be a kind of special training.

After a few turns, Afei nodded to everyone he saw, but almost no one paid any attention to him. There was a strange, cold, guarded look on each man’s face, as if he were the one who had to be “guarded”.

After looking at them carefully, He saw that they must not be as good as he was, or that they must not have been soldiers — former soldiers usually stand erect, as a result of long training.

However, the food in the evening is better than that on the construction site. At least there is a lot of fat in the food. What’s more, there is a lot of oil in the cooking. That night, African and a few men crowded into a room to sleep. He tossed and turned, a feeling of being cheated could not be driven away. There really was no such thing as a free lunch, he thought, and in the afternoon he thought he had been lucky enough to find a place to live and eat for free. But now I don’t have to sleep in the railway station, but the money in my pocket has been changed into a key full of suspense.

3

The next morning, the “training center” handed out a few steamed buns for everyone to eat for breakfast.

At about eight o ‘clock, Afei was called to go to class. The “classroom” was in another room, with a whiteboard hanging on the wall. It had the semblance of a lecture. Manager Chen stands in front of the whiteboard and asks all the students to “sit down”. But there was no stool in the room. Some people sat on the floor, others just stood with cigarettes in their hands and leaned against the wall.

Manager Chen first introduced the new African fei to everyone, said he had been a captain in the army, a good commander of the battlefield. Fei listen to a little embarrassed, but not face to face “correction” Manager Chen, had to lower his head. After the introduction, Manager Chen called everyone to applaud, welcome after the formal class.

Manager Chen took out a tray from behind him. There was a pile of gold ornaments and jewelry in the tray, all the things that women like. Rings, gold necklaces, earrings, and some other jewelry were all over the tray.

“Today, we are going to learn how to distinguish gold from jewelry. Look, which of the gold on my plate is real, and which of the jewels is not.” “Manager Chen said, immediately hand tray left the” platform “, seems to be specially to take care of Afei, the tray first raised to his eyes of the new students. “African, you see, can you tell?”

“This, this…” Fei looked a few eyes also did not distinguish true and false, but to the content of this “course” some doubt, asked Manager Chen, “why want to learn these? Aren’t we here to be security guards?”

“Ha ha, you don’t know?” Hearing this, Manager Chen burst into laughter. However, he did not answer Fei directly, but his eyes turned to a sign sitting beside the big man: “Ah Gang, you talk to Fei, why ah?”

“Afei, don’t you know what you are here to learn?” Agang also asked afie a rhetorical question.

“I know, to be a security guard.”

“Yes, we will be senior security guards. What’s a security guard? Safety, of course. What’s safe? The most important thing is to protect property. Isn’t gold and jewels the most valuable part of property? What’s more, our future customers will be mainly women, even if they have money, they won’t bring the real thing every day, and we’re too embarrassed to ask them, ‘Are they bringing the real thing? ‘If she was carrying an imitation that day and we stole it, wouldn’t we be wasting our time?”

“What? Have we stolen or robbed?”

“Wrong, wrong…” “I mean, in case someone steals or robs us, if it’s not real, we don’t have to die, do we?”

After that, Agang and the people around the eye to eye, everyone “Hey hey” echoed him. Afei reluctantly accepted the reason.

Chen then went on to describe the difference between “A” and “B” bags: “One cannot take money at face value. Some women are gorgeously dressed but carry only a packet of tissues in their bag; Some men carry snakeskin bags, but they can also contain large amounts of cash. The point is, it depends on the look of the person, it depends on the ‘tension’ of the object.”

At last, Chen talked about the identification of mobile phones again. At that time, there were not many mobile phone models. Chen used a few photos to introduce the models of popular mobile phones and their prices in the second-hand market.

If the morning of these “courses”, also let Afei reluctantly believe that a security guard or bodyguard must understand the “common sense”, that afternoon manager Chen’s lecture, has been naked “thief course”.

In the afternoon, after a few pleasantries, Manager Chen opened his mouth and said, “There are several important ‘window of opportunity’ for mobile phone robbery.”

As he spoke, he explained the principle:

“One is the moment the target reaches into his pocket for his phone. Because no one reaches for their phone and holds it tightly, usually with a few fingers and a slight pull from their pocket. So, the whole process from the target holding the phone to the ear is the perfect time to rob…

“The second is when the target dials on the cell phone. Usually target dialing, is to put the phone on the palm, thumb dialing, showing a relaxed shape, at this time hand, light and easy to get…

“Three is when the target calls. Although the target’s hand is holding the phone, he is in full mind to communicate with the caller. There is hardly any anti-robbery mentality…”

At this time, Africa can no longer listen to, he stood up and said: “Manager Chen, you this is not a ‘security course’, you this is a ‘thief course’!

See Africa full of anger, clenched his fists, manager Chen did not face surprised, he instead stood in place, calmly smiled, looking at Africa: “Ha ha, you see, Africa now all understand. He knows we’re all thieves and robbers. What are we going to do?”

Perhaps, from their point of view, the anger on Afei’s face was a normal reaction. Without waiting for Afil’s response, one of the “trainees” immediately replied, “What should I do? That’s not the old way, let him quit school — but, Afei, you have to keep a secret for us!”

Afei hear can “quit school”, immediately stand up to hug a fist: “manager Chen, everybody eldest brother, way different no common goal, no common cause to cooperate. This training, I will not participate in, I have a family business. Of course, I will keep it a secret for you. After all, you did not steal me or rob me. You also gave me food and shelter.”

“Good, African fei, you drop out. And you have just said, eat our, live our, these can be present brother blood for desperately money ah. Will you give us the money?”

“Ok, Manager Chen, I’ll pay you for the whole day’s meal and the whole night’s stay. I can give you all the money I put in my luggage.” He just wanted to get away.

Manager Chen heard this, a sneer: “Afei, the brothers here do not know how much money you have in the bag, but you do not know yourself? Just 300 more, is that enough?”

Afei heard this, immediately froze – he understood that the lock did not lock manager Chen’s hand.

“Just food and shelter? You’ve been to our class! Our course fee, at least worth 50,000 yuan, you basically listened to, now do not want to pay, but also want to run right away? Are you still a man? !” Manager Chen’s expression changed.

“50000 pieces? I can’t afford it. Manager Chen, you already know how much money I have in my bag.”

Manager Chen was about to answer when Agang came over and patted Afie gently. “Oh, brother, sit down,” he said without laughing, “we all come here like this. You think this class is for us? We’ve learned that before! Today, Manager Chen’s lecture is for you alone. Now you have listened to all of Manager Chen’s ‘core secrets’, and after you leave home, you use Manager Chen’s’ intellectual property ‘to steal and rob our business rivals. How can such a good thing happen in the world?”

Another man chimed in, “Yes, Brother African, don’t worry, that’s how we all come. Besides, what about 50,000? You don’t have it now. Follow us and we’ll have it soon. As long as you return 50 thousand dollars training fee, the ends of the earth go with you! You can start your own business by yourself or join a new group. Manager Chen is worthy of you.”

Afei really don’t know how they can escape, then Manager Chen came and said: “Afei, it’s ok, yesterday I told you very clear, free training. If you insist on going, I won’t stand in your way of making a fortune. But if you take the training and don’t take the job, of course you’ll have to pay for it. I’m not sorry.”

Now Agang’s face had changed into an evil look: “Afie, there are rules for rivers and lakes! If you really do not understand the rules, stand in our way of wealth, we will dismember you into the Pearl River to feed the fish! Where there is, there is safety. Work hard, make money early, get ahead early!”

4

Afei ends up stuck at the thief training center. He told me he hated it, but it was impossible for him to fly in a heavily guarded room, and there was no way to call the police. “No one could get out, no phone,” he said.

In the days that followed, he practiced stealing with a group of “cadets” : soapy in boiling water, cutting bags with razors, cutting pockets with knives.

These “techniques” are easy to say, but only useful if you practice them to make them perfect. Afei told me, with a small razor blade to commit the crime, is a very high skill “stunts”, only in the “moment” to complete the action, can be successful.

In addition to the time to commit the crime, the force of the hands is very delicate: when the bag, all kinds of materials are different bags, with the force is not the same, otherwise, do not force, do not open, too hard, and easy to be found; When cutting the pocket, the “target” is dressed in satin or jeans, with several layers of trousers, but not with the same force, to ensure that the cut is not hurt the target flesh.

Some migrant workers, both men and women, who are returning home by train, like to put their money in small bags of underwear, thinking that it is safe to put it in the most sensitive part of their bodies. In fact, as long as “just right” with a razor blade, it is easy to cut two or even more layers of pants, such as a walk, underwear pocket of money will automatically fall out. Especially on the train crowded, a skilled thief hand knife, money is not in the crotch – but from the rear of the knife, the choice of position, Angle and time control, is a “highly skilled job”, really not a day can be trained “skill”.

Do you have a license to be a thief?
In this way, probably learned for a week, Afei just calculate “graduation”.

Manager Chen gave him a “certificate of employment” after the “examination” of Afil. “work card” is nothing else, is a letter with the word “an” Apple, Manager Chen let fei in front of everyone, the “peace fruit” eat into the stomach, it is to pull him formally into the partnership. Said to be ready to arrange for him to “internship”.

All but Afei have a criminal history at the training center. Afei was still being watched, with no chance of escape. He was both remorseful and helpless: “It seems that not to do it once is really not enough.”

According to others, Manager Chen never leads them to steal or rob in Guangzhou, and even in Foshan, they rarely “do it” — because Foshan and Guangzhou are so close together, almost like a city, that it is easier for the police to solve crimes together.

Manager Chen will choose the farther city, depending on the specific situation: generally, he will take a long-distance bus to leave Guangzhou, then return to Guangzhou from Meizhou, or go to Yangjiang, then to Yunfu, finally transfer to Zhongshan, and steal back all the way.

Africa’s first “live”, was Chen manager took to guangzhou, nearly 100 kilometers away from jiangmen.

5

After arriving at jiangmen, the first crime site was arranged in an alley, and the target was the gold and silver on the woman passing by.

African know, oneself do not rob once, partner all won’t rest assured, more won’t do “friend” with him. When he was assigned to team 3, he knew immediately that it was Manager Chen’s deliberate attempt to see if he would temporarily “backwater.”

In this kind of robbery, there is always a “battlefield plan and layout”. Robbery must be a team, a team of at least three people, their respective division of labor. The first group is usually the leader, usually a “senior” old thief, who is responsible for directing, judging and dealing with the aftermath.

The group leader first evaluates what the target has on him or her: for example, whether the jewellery is real and what it is worth, and then decides when to attack. The third team is the one who takes the most responsibility, carries the highest risk, and is the one who can “test” his loyalty. It is often the “intern” like Afie.

But when the leader gives the order, it’s the second group, not the third group, that takes the lead — they need to “fake a retreat” before the third group, to grab the eyes and attention of passers-by and make them think something is wrong, creating a temporary chaos. They had to “run” their way through the chaos by carefully observing the escape route and direction for the third group as they ran.

Once the chaos had begun, team 3 had to act quickly on the group leader’s stated goals. After the third group grabs the target’s property, they should hand it to the leader or other first group members in the fastest way. After transferring the loot from his hands, he followed the second man and continued to run.

This is what Manager Chen called “running to commit crime, running to escape.” They wanted onlookers to think the second group member was the thief, but the third group, who actually committed the crime, looked like he was chasing the thief. The second and third group members could run away directly at the scene of the crime. In case they could not run away, after all, they did not have stolen goods on them. Even if they were suspected by the victims, they also lacked any physical evidence.

The rest of the gang, posing as unsuspecting bystanders, console the frightened victim while thinking about how to control him and then look for a chance to leave when the gang is “clean” and free. If a genuinely enthusiastic passer-by wanted to help the victim, some of his accomplices would act as “unsuspecting onlookers”, deliberately blocking the “pursuers” behind him, or deliberately leading the crowd to chase him in the opposite direction.

If the second or third group member is caught, the leader and other accomplices can also use the identity of the “people on the scene” to testify on behalf of the accomplices that they are not thieves, the real thieves “ran that way.”

African participation in the first robbery, by the manager Chen personally command. Africa to dare to “temporary anti water”, the partners also have a plan: immediately pretended to passers-by when a thief beat, injured Africa after escaping. This time, therefore, the main purpose of Afei’s accomplices was not to receive him, but to watch him.

A middle-aged woman came up with a glittering gold chain around her neck.

Manager Chen glared at Him with his eyes, indicating that he was ready to act. In his fierce eyes, he gave an irresistible command. Agang, who is the second group member and runs a “jambores” for Afei, also gave afei a warning look before starting the race.

When Agang ran, the first flustered, it was the middle-aged woman. She didn’t know what was going on in the alley, she just saw a man and suddenly started running like crazy. At this time, Manager Chen and all the eyes of the partners, all focused on the body of Africa, some partners even picked up a stick in the hand.

Afei understand, at this time of their own no choice. Agang had already started to run, choosing either to attack middle-aged women or to be beaten violently by his comrades.

Afie, anxious in the heart, finally rushed to the helpless middle-aged woman, and quickly extended his hand to the neck of the middle-aged woman. At that moment, Afei has felt the inner madness.

When A Fei tore off the gold necklace, with his manager Chen has also quickly arrived at his side. Wait for Africa to take the initiative to pass in the past, Manager Chen has quickly grabbed the gold necklace in the hands of Africa, and immediately transferred to another partner hand. The men with the gold necklace quickly fled in the opposite direction from Agang.

Fei was Chen manager half pull half pull, while running, while running toward the direction of a gang shouted: “Stop thief, stop thief!”

To catch the eye of others is to wash the white of oneself. The whole chase, rather like a show.

6

Although Afei was pulled under the water, but the partners are not completely at ease with him. He knew that they would not be completely at ease until he became a repeat criminal. But Afei also know, again like this, oneself can only have a result: one day will be caught, and finally become a serious criminal in prison.

He had to look for an opportunity to escape, but escape was not easy, and his comrades were watching too closely — they could not escape from the sea of misery after being badly beaten by them. Who will then care for his bruised and penniless self?

But It is very difficult for Afei to have money, because only by “stealing” all the way back to Guangzhou, he could get the money. Before also listened to associates say, Manager Chen took them out every time “rich” time is not necessarily the same, mainly is to see “rich” how much wealth. If lucky, once “made a fortune”, will return to Guangzhou in advance; If the bad luck, has not been “rich” to a lot of money, in the outside of the day, it is more.

So, If He wants to have money in his hand, he must continue to follow them to make a certain amount of money. The thought of it made His scalp pins and needles.

Wait for them in Jiangmen robbed a few, then to the new meeting, Africa finally found a chance to escape: a robbery in the later period, Africa in running, a didnt pay attention to, turned to the main line of the city – not a rehearsal route – he originally wanted to turn back, but suddenly found a bus parked on the roadside bound for Foshan. The bus door was open and the conductor was telling passengers to get on. Without thinking, Afie took a quick step and jumped on the bus, apologetically telling the conductor what had happened. The conductor half-believe, but also calculate accommodation, did not ask him for tickets.

After arriving Foshan, he of penniless, also dare not report to the police to confess oneself, had to hit in a construction site a month odd job, after earning a few money, think to return Guangzhou new city market, see can the thing that finds oneself?

However, after returning to Guangzhou, he hesitated for a long time: for one thing, he was afraid of finding the thieves still there when he returned; For another, he dared not call the police for fear that he would be jailed.

This day, when he came to guangzhou Avenue south, found on the newsstand “news advertising”, thought of the newspaper “news”, can earn 200 yuan “news fee”, this just came to the newspaper.

I took Afie to the police, who said that this kind of robber or thief was a headache for them. There were so many migrants in Guangdong that it was difficult to register their identity cards, not to mention many fake ones. Roadside cameras were far less ubiquitous than they are today, and with insufficient police force, some towns sometimes saw more crimes than a prefecture-level city in another province. Even if the police do catch someone, it’s not easy for the courts to convict — robbery is a big crime that requires a “full chain of evidence,” and sentencing is often a “presumption of innocence,” if the police can’t provide a full chain of evidence, the judge can’t convict.

At that time, I was worried that Afei, who had been involved in the robbery, would be caught by the police. The police said that in a case like Afei’s, even if he verbally confessed his involvement in the robbery, the police would be very difficult to deal with: first, there was only his statement, no other evidence; The second is that, after all, he was coerced and then called the police.

But by the time we and the police arrived at the “thief training center” in Xinshihui, it was empty. Only mattresses were left in the four empty rooms, and afie’s belongings were gone from the storage cabinets.

That day, after saying goodbye to the police, I took Afei to the newspaper to get a 200 yuan “information fee” and invited him to a nearby restaurant to chat about many details of his experience.

During the conversation, I could see that Afei was a man of ideas and courage. He wanted me to introduce him to a job. Unfortunately, I was still young at that time and could not help him.

About the future plan, Fei fei said: “Look again, no matter how bitter, also better than a thief.”

We haven’t seen each other since then.