Beijing: A Chinese man has been arrested after his two adopted daughters were found chained to a water pipe in an empty under-construction building.
The 30-year-old man identified by his surname, Yang, was arrested by Jiujiang police in East China`s Jiangxi Province, the `Global Times` reported.
The girls, both four-year-old and nicknamed Baobao and Beibei, were found by a security guard on Tuesday in ragged clothes and covered with mosquito bites, the paper said.
Their left wrists were shackled to a 1.5-metre iron chain that was connected to a water pipe.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the girls had been chained up in the kitchen for five to six days.
There is no water or electricity supply in the building.
The girls looked unkempt and were dressed in ragged clothes the report said, adding that their bodies were full of mosquito bites.
Baobao was quoted as saying by the paper that their adoptive father chained them up, and gave them a meal every night.
When the security guard tried to unlock the chain, the girls said they would be punished by Yang if they moved the chain.
Local police, who rescued the girls, provided them a shower, new clothes and food.
The report said the police later arrested Yang at his home. According to the criminal law, abuse of family members, including forced labour and limiting personal freedom, is an offence subject to seven years in prison.
PTI
