TAIPEI Taiwan police have cracked a six-member deaf-and- mute robbery ring and nabbed the Japanese ring leader who is also a deaf-and-mute, police said Saturday as quoted by DPA. Police caught the six deaf-and-mute and their leader Kusano Hiroaki, 43, from Kumamoto prefecture, Friday in Taoyuan near Taipei.

They reportedly have robbed more than 100 people of cash after they had withdrawn cash from automatic teller machines (ATM). "Kusano Hiroaki taught the ring members the tricks of robbery," a police duty officer said.

The deaf-and-mute, riding motorbikes in pairs, would wait at ATMs for people to withdraw money, follow them and snatch their wallets or handbags.