A local court said yesterday that it has sentenced a gang of six boarding school students to jail terms ranging from 18 to 54 months for committing more than a dozen robberies over a three-month period.

　　The Minhang District People's Court said the sentences would have been at least 10 years long if the criminals were not minors. The six thieves were all between 15 and 17 years old when they committed their crimes.

　　The court found the six teenagers, who were roommates at a technical secondary school in the city, guilty of stealing cash and property valued at about 15,000 yuan (US$1,807) from 13 victims in Minhang, Xuhui and Luwan districts.

　　The crime spree began in December 2002 and didn't end until they were caught in February 2003.

　　"At the beginning, the students just wanted to get money using their numerical strength. When everything went smoothly the first time, they felt excited and couldn't stop," said Lu Qinjian of the Minhang District Prosecutors' Office.

　　A student surnamed Peng led five of his classmates on the first robbery on December 13, 2002. The gang used a knife to steal 20 yuan in cash and a Motorola cell phone from a university student on Wanping Road.

　　Like most of their other crimes, the theft took place late at night.

　　Prosecutors said the group hid in their room for the next few days worried they would be caught. But when nothing was said of the robbery for a few days they began attending classes again and planning their next crime. The thefts ended last February 24, when Peng and a classmate surnamed Tang were arrested while trying to rob a woman in Minhang. They quickly told police the names of the rest of their gang.

　　Prosecutors said they were surprised to discover all of the students came from good homes and none of them have ever been in trouble with police in the past.