Chinese police crack over 1,360 cultural relics cases

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,360 criminal cases involving cultural relics have been solved with 2,600 suspects arrested across China over the last eight months, the Ministry of Public Security said on Sunday.

A campaign jointly launched by the ministry and the National Cultural Heritage Administration has busted more than 280 criminal gangs and recovered 26,000 cultural relics since August last year.

To deal with the trend of more such crimes involving the internet and digital devices, the ministry asked public security authorities around China to step up the fight to uncover the entire criminal chain related to cultural relics.

It also urged increased public awareness and efforts related to cultural relics protection and encouraged people to tip off such crimes.