China launches crackdown on natural resource-related organized crimes

BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Public Security Thursday launched a one-year campaign to crack down on law violations related to natural resources and those who harbor such crimes.

Police operations against organized crimes involving damaging natural resources should be an important task of the country's regular crackdown on organized crimes, said Du Hangwei, vice minister of public security.

Public security departments nationwide are asked to step up their fight against illegal mining and sand excavation, and bust criminal gangs behind major cases in this field.

The ministry urged efforts to establish and improve long-term mechanisms for information sharing, case reporting, and joint law enforcement, to wipe out the root causes of illegal mining and sand excavation.

During a three-year national campaign targeting organized crime and local tyrants launched in 2018, Chinese police dismantled over 1,090 crime syndicates in mineral resources fields and captured more than 20,000 suspects.