Police have confiscated 225 tons of explosives and 336,000 detonators from illegal coal mines since July as part of a national crackdown on illegal explosives launched in April, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security said yesterday.

Officers raided 8,157 mines, which had officially been shut down, and found 211 of them were still operating. A number of others were found to be storing explosives and firearms illegally, the spokesman said.

All the illegal mines have now been eradicated and the ministry said it had tightened the management of explosives used in mines across the country.

Yan Zhengbin, deputy director of the ministry's public order bureau, said the move was part of a national crackdown on illegal explosives and a security precaution in the run-up to the Communist Party congress next month.

He said the campaign will also help ensure a safe Olympics next year.

Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang said on Monday that terrorism will be the biggest threat to the staging of a successful Games, and called for better management of explosives and more international cooperation.

Police in the capital yesterday said they had started a campaign to crack down on illegal explosives in the city.

It began on Wednesday in Malan Village in Mentougou district, where police confiscated about 500 g of black powder and dozens of fireworks from villagers' homes.

The village is surrounded by hundreds of small illegal coal mines, all of which have been shut down, an official with the city's police bureau said.

The confiscations will prevent mine owners from storing explosives privately and resuming coal production, Tang Yunli, a senior official with the bureau, said.

He said police will continue to comb areas where small illegal collieries, rented and abandoned houses and underground markets gather.

However, the ministry reported last month that because of stricter controls, the number of crimes involving explosives in the first half of this year were down 27 percent on the same period last year.

(China Daily September 14, 2007)