Police in Guangdong Province have dealt with a total of 100 murder cases during an operation codenamed Yueying 2 over the past fortnight.

The campaign's success was revealed by Huang Peifu, a senior police officer from the Criminal Investigation Department of Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security, at a press conference in Guangzhou yesterday.

"The crackdown on homicide cases has dealt a heavy blow to the criminal elements in this province, where the crime rate is higher than other parts of China," said Huang. "It will certainly help bring crime in the province under control and should deter further illegal activities," he added.

Guangdong police have detained a total of 6,059 suspects, including 240 on the police wanted list, after they launched a crackdown on 9,035 different criminal cases in the province between May 9 and 23, said Huang.

He said police have busted 883 criminal gangs that used to operate in the province which borders the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Despite the crackdown's impressive results, Huang hinted that the police would continue to launch special campaigns throughout the year, to stop crime developing in the prosperous province.

(China Daily May 26, 2006)