Provinces singled out in crackdown on gun-related crimes
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More than 70 percent of the country's recent crimes related to guns and explosives took place in four southern provinces, a senior police officer said.
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A policeman and two workers load seized guns onto a truck on June 30 in Linyi, Shandong province. The guns were taken outside the city and destroyed. |
Yan Zhengbin, deputy chief of the security management bureau at the Ministry of Public Security, said most of the crimes happened in Guangdong, Sichuan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces, which all have large mobile populations.
Hebei and Shanxi are also among the provinces reporting the highest number of such crimes.
"Illegal manufacturing and trafficking of explosives, guns and ammunition, as well as an increasing number of vicious crimes involving the use of explosives and guns, are the prominent problems in these areas," Yan told China Daily in an exclusive interview.
"Rapid economic growth, a large mobile population, high lawful demand for explosives for industrial use and the pursuit of illegal benefits all contributed to the large number of crimes related to explosives and guns."
Yan said 272 explosives-related crimes and 705 gun-related crimes occurred in China from January to August, respective year-on-year decreases of 6.2 percent and 31 percent.
From June to August alone, police cracked 4,900 explosives and gun offences, detained 6,000 suspects, stamped out 36 gangs and destroyed 80 hidden shelters, according to police statistics.
Meanwhile, 336 tons of dynamite, 2.15 million detonators, 18,000 guns and 408,000 bullets were seized by police from June to August.
"All these dangerous items may have become tools for committing crimes, threatening personal security and property," Yan said.
According to the national firearms management regulations, any individual or institutional manufacturing, ownership, transportation, rental or sale of firearms and ammunition is outlawed.
Anyone convicted of such crimes faces jail terms from three to seven years and in serious circumstances they could face a death sentence.
Legal firearms and ammunition is only for use in judiciary organs, anti-smuggling operations or for safeguarding the security of military industries or financial and scientific research institutions.
Civilian use of firearms and ammunition is only allowed in such circumstances as shooting teams, on hunting grounds or for mining companies.
Yan warned that police face new challenges in addressing these crimes due to online trading and gangs, adding that these crimes are increasingly connected to drugs and gambling.
Dong Chuanhua, a senior officer from the ministry's special operations for controlling explosives and guns, told China Daily that police will strengthen their crackdown on the online trading of explosives and guns.
By the end of August, 67,000 pieces of illegal information had been deleted and 128 websites closed, according to statistics provided to China Daily.
Dong also said police will improve the national online database for fugitives suspected of illegally manufacturing, trading, transporting, mailing and storing explosives, guns and ammunition.
The database includes 33,295 suspects involved in explosives-related crimes and 9,268 suspects in gun-related crimes, Dong said.
By Sept 10 this year, 271 fugitives had been arrested by police across the country, with 47 related to gun crimes.
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