Zeng Lingquan, 46, and his 45-year-old wife Li Shuqiong were arrested last Thursday, said Wang Yunhui of the People's Procuratorate of Quxian County in Sichuan, China.
They are said to have gained some three-million yuan (RM1.4mil) by selling over 130 people to work in factories, quarries, kilns and mines across China since 1993.
Most workers were found to have received no pay, inadequate food and dire living conditions.
This was exposed after a media report revealing eight mentally retarded men working in appalling conditions in a stone quarry in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
A police investigation alleged that the couple began hiring homeless beggars to help them with farm work - a contravention of the law, as they had not gone through any legal adoption procedure.
Zeng set up the shelter illegally in a bid to gather more labourers in 1998, according to the Procuratorate.
He signed contracts with employers and provided training for the workers before delivering them.
And the workers' salaries were sent to Zeng's bank account.
Zeng also whipped or tortured the inmates if they did not "listen to him".
Prosecutors are still trying to collect more evidence about the labour scandal.
So far, seven officials in Quxian County have been sacked or warned over their responsibility in the case.
The cases emerged nearly four years after a major scandal in which more than 20 workers were found killed in coal mines in southeast and northeast China.
Most workers had been lured to the mines by men who killed them for compensation from mine bosses,
Source: Shanghai Daily
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