Photo: VCG

China has stepped up its efforts to protect people's security and maintain social stability by eliminating the country's mafia-like organizations and "protective umbrellas" that shelter criminal gangs, a news conference stated on Wednesday in Beijing.

As of the end of July, China has investigated and dealt with 77,668 criminals and 64,831 cases of corruption involving mafia-like groups and "protective umbrellas", Chinese law enforcement agencies said on Wednesday. 

China has dismantled 453 mafia-like gangs, each of which had assets of over 100 million yuan ($14.5 million), since a nationwide campaign was established to crack down on such groups in early 2018, said China's national office against organized crime at a press conference on Wednesday.

The 453 dismantled gangs' total assets amounted to 300.8 billion yuan, according to the office. Regional governments have been entrusted to manage the 887 enterprises involved with the gangs and ensure jobs for their more than 36,000 employees, the office said.

Details of four cases committed by mafia-like gangs were revealed in regional monopoly industries in China's Shandong, Hunan, Guangdong, and Qinghai provinces. 

The case in Zoucheng City of East China's Shandong Province, for example, involved a local mafia-like gang of more than 20 members, who coerced people to buy fireworks from only them. Under the protection of local officials, including Zoucheng's deputy mayor, Kang Jianguo, the gang abused, beat and robbed those who disobeyed their orders.

Set up by a man named Yang Yanjun in 2006, the group had a strangle-hold on the city's fireworks market for 13 years, until the case was investigated in 2018. 

Yang and the other 28 defendants were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison by a Shandong court last month.

The Ministry of Public Security started an operation to hunt down the 1,712 fugitives involved in organized crime on April 9. Currently, 96.7 percent of the listed targets hiding on the Chinese mainland have been captured.

To receive grass-root reports nationwide, China's law enforcement agencies in 2019 upgraded their online gang crime informant platform, 12337.gov.cn, where citizens can report sources or fugitives related to criminal cases. Measures were also taken to prevent relevant information from being leaked online, Chen Yixin, head of the national office against organized crime, told the media in May 2019.

Global Times