GUANGZHOU: The chairman of DDS, a failed courier firm in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has been detained after hundreds of former clients and employees blocked traffic in a number of cities in Guangdong to demand the payment of outstanding debt.
Police detained Gao Wei and froze his assets after they were told the company was unable to pay its debts last Thursday, local media reported.
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Angry clients and staff gathered outside DDS offices in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, and Dongguan at different times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to demand their money back. Police detained 21 people after protesters caused extensive traffic delays.
Founded in Shenzhen in 1997, DDS operated more than 800 branches in China, including Hong Kong.
It is estimated to account for at least 10 percent of the courier business in Shenzhen and at least 70 percent of the payment collection business in southern China.
Its failure comes after the closure of its business in eastern China in November last year following rapid expansion into the area, which stretched its financial capability.
Its clients said that DDS had delayed the transfer of the payment of their goods it had collected on their behalf since November.
DDS owes debts ranging in amounts from a couple of yuan to many thousands of yuan.
The money owed to its employees includes two months worth of unpaid wages.
In an internal letter to its employees in November, chairman Gao Wei attributed the financial difficulty to the expansion into eastern China and the failure of delivery people to turn in payments they had collected.
Police detained 17 people for deliberately blocking traffic in Shenzhen. Some broke into the office and stole company computers. Four people were arrested in Foshan.
