Police have cracked nearly 500 gang crime cases since it
launched a crackdown against mafia-style gang crimes in February
2006, according to authoritative sources.
The police had so far referred 340 cases of alleged gang crimes
for prosecution, according to a spokesman of the office for
national campaign against organized crime, though he failed to
explain what happened to the rest of the cases.
More than 4,000 criminal gangs were wiped out during the
campaign, the spokesman added.
Thanks to the crackdown, the number of serious crimes including
homicide and robbery has dropped year-on-year in the first half of
this year, the spokesman said.
However, the spokesman noted that the one-year-strong campaign
shows that criminal activities of mafia-like groups are in "the
high occurrence period" in China, more efforts must be made to win
the "protracted, complex and tough" struggle.
Some of the criminal gangs involve "protecting umbrellas" from
government officials.
The spokesman also highlighted the existence of these
"umbrellas" and said they are a crucial part for cracking gang
crimes and they will be given severe punishment according to
law.
(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2007)