Chinese thieves held for sleeping on state secrets

Beijing, May 28: A band of drowsy card-sharps in China, who pilfered books from a conference and then used them as pillows, were detained by police after it was found they had stolen state secrets, local media reported today.

Seven con men set up a card game this month outside a Beijing hotel holding a national conference, figuring the conference's attendees would be rich and easily filched out of their money, the Beijing News said.

''But in several days, not a single person fell for the scam,'' the paper said.

Later, at a different hotel, the men stole several satchels being distributed at a conference, hoping to find valuables, the paper said.

But the satchels merely held books with ''numbers and formulae'' on their covers. So the men decided to use the books as pillows, the newspaper said, citing police.

A few days later, the thieves were awakened by police and detained on the charge of illegally holding ''documentation containing state secrets,'' the paper said.

The country's definition of state secrets is notoriously broad.

It is the world's top jailer of journalists, with more than 30 in prison, many for stealing state secrets after reporting official misdeeds or speculating about leadership changes.

Reuters>