Six members of a village committee in Foshan, Guangdong province, including the Party chief, and a dozen other people have been detained on criminal terms since last month for mafia-style activities.

The gang, headed by Huang Minchang, Party chief of the village committee of Anfu village, took advantage of Huang's position and is suspected of being involved in activities including intentional injury, functionary embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds, forced transactions and extortion, Nanfang Daily reported.

Huang had served as Party chief of the village since 2006. Three of the four leaders of the village committee were also detained. The village has a population of less than 2,000.

Some villagers had been petitioning against Huang and the police started an investigation in 2012 but made slow progress due to the complexity of the case.

liwenfang@chinadaily.com.cn