In a series of coordinated raids across Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, police have put five fake banknote production bases in Guangzhou and eastern parts of the province out of action. They also seized finished and semi-finished counterfeit notes with a face value totalling 121 million yuan (US$14.58 million) and rounded up 22 suspects, including the gang leaders.

The operation codenamed "Autumn Wind," seized two sets of model film for printing fake currency, along with a large cache of other essential equipment including machines and raw materials, revealed Zheng Shaodong, deputy director general of Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, Zheng said "Operation Autumn Wind" had dealt a hefty blow to banknote counterfeiting activities in the province and helped to ensure the integrity and normality of economic and financial operations in Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong and Macao.

It was the biggest counterfeiting case to be uncovered in the province this year.

Several criminal gangs that had, for many years, been involved in the printing and trafficking of fake banknotes, are believed to have been put out of action by "Operation Autumn Wind," Zheng said.

Some of the underground fake banknote production bases recently destroyed had been operating for a long time in the province, added Zheng, who led the operation.

Zheng believes the once prevalent counterfeit rackets in Guangdong have been badly hit in the wake of "Autumn Wind" which began in the second half of the year.

Despite the latest successes of law enforcers, Zheng has vowed there will be no let up in the fight against the province's counterfeiters, whose activities undermine Guangdong's economic development.

Police investigations into the latest arrests continue and also the hunt for escaped suspects, said Zheng.

In October, police in Jieyang in the eastern part of Guangdong seized fake banknotes with a face value of 48 million yuan (US$5.8 million) from a secret printing base located in a residential house in the nearby city of Puning.

Six suspects were detained during that swoop by officers. A set of model film for printing fake banknotes and other equipment was also seized.

In Guangzhou, police destroyed another production base in September, and seized fake currency with a face value of 14.14 million yuan (US$1.7 million).

Three suspects were detained in that raid in a residential area in Guangzhou's Baiyun District.

In another action in Shantou, more than 100 police raided an underground production base in the city's Liangying Township, recovered fake banknotes with a face value of 19 million yuan (US$2.3 million), and captured five suspected counterfeiters.

In the fifth raid Chaozhou police cracked the city's first fake banknote production base, seizing phoney banknotes with a face value of 40 million yuan (US$4.8 million) and four suspects.

(China Daily December 5, 2002)