Heilongjiang police have detained three suspects in Harbin City who allegedly detained 33 men with intellectual disabilities and forced them to do physical labor, a local news Website reported Wednesday.

The alleged leader of the group, surnamed Tan, is still at large, Heilongjiang news Website said.

Police found the "slaves' room" after a 30-year-old man jumped from the 7th floor of a building in Hulan District on March 13. He died immediately.

Police could not ascertain why and how the man jumped as all of the other jailed men had mental disabilities, the report added.

Police said that the suspects – surnamed Li, Liu, Tan and Men – targeted stragglers or migrant workers with intellectual disabilities at railway stations by luring them to a residential room. They were then forced to work.

The quartet sent them to nearby construction sites every day and received money from foremen, the report said, citing police.

Officers told the Website that the victims came from different provinces.

According to the report, Men said the dead man was lured to the room on February 15 from Harbin Station and that he had been beaten several times after trying to flee.

Men, 41, a migrant worker from Acheng City, was responsible for guarding the stragglers. He was also a victim several years ago.

According to police, Men said they gave stragglers two bowels of gruel with rotten pickles every day.

Men claimed that he could not leave because Tan, the boss, had not given him any money, the report added.

The city's government has given money to the victims who wanted to return home and arranged jobs for others who wanted to work in the city, the report said.

The government has also sent those with serious mental disabilities to local asylums, the report added.

A total of 548 forced laborers, including children, were rescued from brick kilns and small mines in Shanxi Province last year.

The workers were not paid and were forced to work 15 to 16 hours a day and finish their meals within 15 minutes, previous reports said. They slept on the ground in a dark room without heating in the winter.

(Shanghai Daily March 20, 2008)