A police investigation into the murder and mutilation of a young Chinese couple was broadened to the Beijing underworld last night as detectives followed up claims that an international criminal syndicate ordered the killings. British police confirmed that officers had flown to the Chinese capital to investigate the murders of Yang Zhenxing (楊振興) and his girlfriend Zhou Xi (周茜) both 25, whose bodies were found in an apartment in Newcastle upon Tyne on Aug. 9.
In a separate development, officers from Scotland Yard’s serious crime directorate, which has detectives specializing in investigating executions by Chinese gangs, including the triads, have joined the Northumberland Police team.
Every UK police force has also been asked to provide details of any violent crime that might have similarities with the murders. Detectives are exploring the theory that a major criminal network might have sanctioned a double hit rather than the murders being the result of a local dispute.
The bodies of Yang and Zhou were discovered with serious head injuries in their ground-floor apartment. Yang had been tortured. Police believe the couple, who met while studying for masters degrees at Newcastle University, almost certainly knew their killers.
A major Chinese-based international betting syndicate, which employed Yang as an international agent in its efforts to gain an edge when betting on the results of Premier League football games shown in China, is understood to be under investigation by police.
English football matches are shown in China with up to a minute’s delay, offering gambling syndicates with live information a critical advantage.
Detectives in China, London and Northumbria are concentrating upon the theory that Yang — known to friends as Kevin — had double-crossed his employers and was visited last weekend by a gang determined to take revenge for missing payments. A series of threats posted on Chinese Mandarin Web sites by people allegedly recruited by Yang and who had not been paid are being tracked down in UK and China.
Yang, who graduated along with his girlfriend in 2006, might have been tortured because his killers wanted to find cash linked to the alleged racket.
He was eventually bludgeoned and stabbed to death. Zhou, a waitress at a Newcastle noodle bar, was asphyxiated, possibly in an attempt to stifle her screams. The murder weapons — a knife and another sharp-edged instrument — have yet to be found.
Northumbria Police also confirmed that they had started liaising with the Chinese embassy and consulate as part of diplomatic efforts to help with inquiries in China.
One obstacle that has hampered British police efforts so far is that attempts to investigate the backgrounds of Yang, whose has family in Dalian, and Zhou, originally from Hunan Province, were difficult because of the distances involved.
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