28 Chinese investors in the Fanya Metal Exchange have gone missing after a protest

As many as 220,000 Chinese investors put money into Fanya Metal Exchange, which halted all trading six months ago, leaving them unable to withdraw their funds.

People protest outside the office of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission in Shanghai on September 25, 2015 claiming they were tricked by the Fanya metals exchange. Chinese speculators who claim to have lost money on risky investments mounted a rare protest in Shanghai (AFP Photo / Johannes Eisele)

More than twenty Chinese investors who lost money in the Fanya Metal Exchange have gone missing since they were arrested on October 25, ahead of a planned protest in Beijing, according to Quartz.

A total of 28 protest organizers were arrested ahead of the protest planned for Monday, which would have coincided with the start of a key Communist Party meeting in Beijing. Since then, none of their families or friends heard anything from them, according to Quartz.

Family members of seven detainees have received police notices that their relatives are being held on suspicion of “gathering crowds to disturb public order,” but there has not been any news about the other 21, Quartz said. The charged could lead to a five-year jail term for the seven investors who have already been detained.

Yu Haichao, an investor who travelled to Beijing to participate in the protest, told AFP she was taken from her room around midnight and driven to a detention centre.

According to her, the police has forced protesters to sign a pledge that they would not attend any gathering related to protest about the exchange.

Another investor, Klaus Zhu, told AFP that protesters were sent back to their home towns, accompanied by local government officials, but about a dozen have been held by police and formally detained.

Investors, who lost an estimated $6 billion of their funds, were hoping that the Chinese government would force Fanya Metal Exchange, a trading platform-turned-asset manager, to return the money they have lost.

As many as 220,000 Chinese investors put money into Fanya Metal Exchange, which halted all trading six months ago, leaving them unable to withdraw their funds.

The government has encouraged citizens to invest in shares, but it has done little to help the investors get their money back.