A SERIAL killer, who is alleged to have murdered 23 young people in two years, has been arrested by Pingyu District Police in Central China's Henan Province, the Xinhua News Agency reported this week.

　　Of the dead, whose bodies were later exhumed from the alleged murderer's yard, 18 were middle school students.

　　The mass murders of so many minors has shocked China and received major coverage in the media. Condemnation of the serial killer has been matched by criticism of the ineffective work of the local police.

　　It has been claimed that in fewer than 100 days between February and April this year, 11 boys were reported missing but the police failed to pay sufficient attention to the reports. The police said that the children may well have had a quarrel with their parents and left home to make a living on their own.

　　Last September, the father of one of the murdered boys received a phone call which he thought may have been made by his missing son. But the phone stopped ringing before he could pick it up.

　　The father found out from the post officeswheresthe call had originated and asked the police to go with him to the location. The phone call was actually made from the home of a neighbour of the arrested man. But as the house owner denied that he knew anything about the missing boy, the police gave up any further searching.

　　However, the father returned several times to the village and became suspicious of Huang Yong, the 29-year-old later arrested for the mass murders. But local police refused to help him to search Huang's yard saying that without evidence, any such search would be illegal.

　　Receiving no help from local police, in late September seven of the missing children's parents took the case all the way to Beijing. A week later, when the parents had returned to Pingyu, they were told that the local district police had started investigations.

　　But according to the parents, no real investigation took place. The police did not post any warning notices about the missing students whose disappearances were now a serious concern in the district.

　　The last boy to be murdered, a 17-year-old surnamed Qin, disappeared on October 24.

　　The case broke open last Monday when a 16-year-old boy managed to escape from Huang's house and went to the police.

　　According to the survivor, Huang's village was very secluded and difficult for a stranger to escape from.

　　Police said the boys were not killed immediately. Instead, Huang would torture his victims by beating them and stabbing them with needles.

　　The mysterious phone call to the father may well have been made by his son who had been missing for 15 days at the time of the call.

　　All the bereaved parents say that if the police had been doing their job properly many of the boys could have been saved.

　　Journalists from all over China have gone to the small town to get first-hand information about the case. However, to the surprise and disappointment of the reporters, the authorities have sent most of the parents away to stay in hotelsswheresthey are out of reach of the media.

　　"Because so many reporters came, some officials were afraid that the parents might say something 'wrong'," a local villager was quoted as saying by the Beijing-based Xinjing Newspaper.

　　In questioning by police, Huang gave no specific motive for the serial killings. He told police he liked to watch Kung Fu and horror movies.

　　Beginning in September 2001, Huang is said to have met his young victims in video rooms and Internet cafes. He would then invite them to his homeswhereshe tortured them to death.