Ministry lauds law enforcement efforts on National Police Day

Last year, public security organs nationwide made every effort to maintain social stability and crack down hard on a range of criminal activities, Li Bei, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Public Security, said on Jan 3, as the third National Police Day was celebrated.

Li said public security organs continued their fight against organized crime and carried out many operations targeting felonies that have a major impact on the public, such as the possession of guns and explosives, telecom and online fraud, cross-border gambling and identity theft. She added that the operations achieved notable results.

From January through November last year, police nationwide resolved 391,000 cases of telecom and online fraud, a rise of 5.7 percent year-on-year. The number of suspects arrested rose by 64.4 percent, the number of cases filed declined by 17.3 percent, and the total value of losses caused by telecom fraud fell by 1.3 percent, compared with the same period the previous year, according to the ministry.

The police also made all-out efforts to fight cybercrime and improve the management of cyberspace, Li said.

They investigated 83,000 cases related to cybercrime — such as identity theft and hacking — busted 8,700 criminal networks and arrested 156,000 suspects.

Last year, police also solved 77,000 criminal cases involving foodstuffs, medicines and intellectual property, arresting 107,000 suspects.

The public security organs implemented a strategy of "eliminating the source and stopping the flow of drugs", and police handled 32,000 drug-related cases, seizing 18.9 metric tons of narcotics.

They also cracked down on criminal activities related to cross-border gambling, and investigated more than 37,500 such cases.

That move effectively curbed the trend of overseas criminal groups luring Chinese to gamble overseas and the hiring of Chinese to promote their enterprises.

Moreover, China continued to strengthen cooperation with international law enforcement agencies to prevent and solve various transnational crimes.

It also urged countries to crack down on illegal activities that infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and institutions overseas, Li said.

Last year, 308 police officers and 179 auxiliary police officers died in the line of duty, while 4,334 police officers and 3,470 auxiliary police officers were injured while performing their duties, the ministry said.