China has detained 180 members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group for spreading rumors and recruiting new followers amid the SARS epidemic, state radio said on Thursday
The practitioners were all arrested in the northern province of Hebei, it reported. Police officials were not immediately available for comment.
"They spread doomsday theories in a bid to cause panic in society and claimed that the SARS outbreak in China was a warning to those who persecute and hate the Falun Dafa," it said, using another name for the group.
"They also spread falsehoods that people who practice Falun Gong will not contract SARS in order to try to spread the cult and recruit more followers," it said.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which emerged in southern China last November, has infected 5,329 people in China, killed 336 and caused several violent protests in the countryside.
Police have arrested a string of people for spreading rumors about the disease which has mysterious origins and no standard cure.
Human rights groups said the government was taking advantage of the SARS crisis to start a particularly brutal crackdown on political and Internet dissidents, hoping the international community was distracted by the epidemic.
China has driven followers of Falun Gong deep underground after 10,000 mostly elderly practitioners surrounded Beijing's leadership compound to demand recognition of their faith in 1999.