Shanghai police began to crackdown on illegal taxi drivers, especially those targeting foreigners, near Longyang Road Metro Station yesterday afternoon. Officers have detained eight taxi drivers who allegedly threatened passengers to pay extra money, the city's official news portal website reported today.

More than 30 officials from the city's traffic police and quality safeguard department smashed a taxi swindler group near Longyang Road Station and detained several drivers during the action, Eastday.Com said.

The officials also confiscated more than 10 illegal taxicabs, the report added.

Taxi swindlers always cheat money out of customers, especially foreigners, by taking roundabout routes or making the meter increase faster, the report said, citing a traffic policeman.

Foreign passengers are the main targets of these swindlers because they cannot speak Chinese and are often unfamiliar with the streets.

In a previous action, police detained an illegal taxi driver surnamed Gu. They accused Gu of pretending to not know the route and forcing two foreign passengers in his taxi onto another car with two men on January 9. After a five-minute trip, the duo threatened the expat passengers with a 600-yuan (US$83.91) bill, the police said. When the foreigners showed hesitation, a man played with a hammer in his hand and the foreigners paid the money.

Police have detained eight taxi swindlers since December. They cheated more than 50,000 yuan from passengers within two months, the report said, adding that they may face criminal charges.

Traffic police have received 16 complaints of taxi swindling with violence involved. Most cases involved foreigners. The drivers charged excessive amounts and forced the passengers to pay by seizing their luggage or locking the cab's doors, the report said.

Passengers can dial traffic police on 962000 for help, the report added. English service is not available, the report added.

(Shanghai Daily, March 5, 2008)