Three men who allegedly stabbed to death a local political advisor in Lianjiang, Guangdong province, were arrested over the weekend, Lianjiang police bureau confirmed yesterday.

The alleged killers, all Lianjiang locals aged between 18 and 21, were nabbed six days after Huang Zhaoluan, the principal of Lianjiang Middle School and vice-chairman of the Lianjiang committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was killed on his way to work last week.

"Two of them had fled to Baise city in neighboring Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region after the murder," Chen Xuhui, the director of Lianjiang public security bureau, said yesterday.

"They were seized on Friday last week and moved back to Lianjiang on Saturday."

The third suspect was seized hiding in a town near Lianjiang on Saturday morning, he said.

The three suspects - Li Zhongyan, Chen Pixing and Ruan Yuming - have admitted their crime, Chen said.

Huang, 43, was attacked about 100 m from his home by three assailants around 6 am last Monday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

He suffered stab wounds to his entire body and later died in hospital from blood loss.

Chen said that it was likely a "revenge attack" and that nobody had hired the three alleged assassins.

He did not elaborate, saying that the investigation was ongoing.

But Huang Zhaoyi, younger brother of the victim, believes someone unsatisfied with a certain reform had killed his brother, the Guangzhou-based Information Times Daily reported.

"It is hard to believe that three people, who my brother never knew, can bear a grudge and kill him," Huang was quoted as saying.

But he also claimed that he would respect the police's findings.

Chen said a breakthrough in the case was made after a person reported that the motorcycle the suspects had allegedly used was dumped into a nearby river.

The police bureau awarded that person a 30,000 yuan ($4,411) reward, Chen said.

In the wake of the murder, the Lianjiang government is more alert to security than ever before.

It said last Tuesday it will spend 10 million yuan to install security surveillance cameras across the city.

(China Daily October 28, 2008)