The final suspect in the case of an infamous 21-member gang accused of raping more than 60 women in Inner Mongolia was detained on June 18.

The gang terrorized women in the region between 1998 and 2000.

Police had been searching for its members for eight years.

The final suspect, surnamed Li, was apprehended in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

The manhunt began on March 26, 2000, when police in Hangjin rear banner, Bayannur city, responded to a report that a group of men had abducted two high school girls at a traffic intersection.

Police rushed to the scene and detained four men, who later confessed to the crime of rape. Later that year, police apprehended 14 other men in connection with the case.

By 2005, all but one of the gang members had been detained.

Seven men deemed "principle rapists" by the courts received death sentences.

But, one man remained at large.

On June 5, police discovered an important clue as to his whereabouts.

When Li applied for a driver's license in the city of Shizuishan, in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, his name appeared on a national database, which police can access.

Thirteen days later, police detained Li in Shizuishan, where he had been working in an automobile repair shop.

The suspect is now in custody in Inner Mongolia.

Court proceedings are expected to begin soon.

(China Daily June 26, 2008)