The People's Daily issued a report yesterday that hailed public support as being a contributing factor to the successful capture of thousands of fugitive homicide suspects during a nationwide manhunt campaign.

Launched by the Ministry of Public Security in May, the campaign has so far resulted in the apprehension of 190 criminals on the national "wanted list" and 23,000 more fugitives who had been on the run for at least 10 years, according to ministry statistics.

The report said police used information from relatives of the criminals, as well as tips from the public and data gleaned from online sources, to capture the fugitives.

One of the fugitives, a television actor who was suspected of being involved in an attack on a police officer 13 years ago, was arrested after police were tipped off by his family, the report said.

More than 30,000 tips received from citizens helped the police to track down 19,000 of the fugitives, according to the police. The report said a summary of the most effective measures used during the manhunt should be created to facilitate more such captures in the future.

Xinhua