8,200 held in China in crackdown against criminal gangs

Chinese police have dismantled more than 1,000 criminal gangs and arrested over 8,200 suspects in a nationwide operation targeting organised crime, authorities said. The operation also uncovered more than 5,400 criminal cases nationwide, the Ministry of Public Security said on Monday. “New types of crimes such as online predatory lending, soft-violence debt collection … coerced consumption and online harassment have become major forms of organised crime,” the ministry said on social media. “They gravely disrupt the normal economic and social order and undermine the public’s sense of security.” It is the latest in a series of campaigns targeting organised crime that first began in 2018.
Several police chiefs around the country have been sacked by anti-corruption agencies for misdeeds including protecting organised crime. The year-long crackdown will end ahead of the 21st National Congress of the Communist Party. The five-yearly political event, expected to be held next autumn, is likely to feature a leadership reshuffle and the endorsement of a fourth term for President Xi Jinping. Xi has demanded that crackdowns on organised crime target not just gang members but also the corrupt officials who protect them. In 2018, speaking at a plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, Xi called for catching “those gang-related criminals as well as the ‘umbrellas’ behind them”.
In the past two weeks, police in multiple Chinese cities have issued a call for tips about gang-related crime. One notice from the government of Xian in Shaanxi province last week listed 10 new types of crimes, including doxxing, obtaining others’ information illegally, sexual extortion and using fake prices to trick people into buying things.