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)