Chinese police have cracked 874 mafia-style crimes and removed 9,662 criminal gangs since a campaign aimed at eradicating the country's serious gang crimes launched in 2006, according to government figures released here on Monday.

Nearly 60,000 suspects of gang crimes were arrested and 77,000 criminal cases were cracked during the past two years, according to a meeting of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

The country's procurator agencies has sued 753 mafia-style crimes and the courts have tried 512 such cases, says the Committee.

Serious crimes including murder, robbery and injuries were all down about four percent over the past two years, it says.

Meng Jianzhu, deputy secretary of the Committee and Minister of Public Security, urged the country's police to address the safety issues that concern people the most.

The police should crack "big" cases such as solving the mafia-style crimes and cracking down serious violent crimes. They should at the same time deal with "smaller" cases that affect people's sense of security, including thefts and pick-pocketing cases, said Meng, who is also a State Councillor.

Through the campaign, "social order has apparently improved, and the people's sense of security has been enhanced", the Committee says.

The campaign also rooted out some gangs and evil forces in rural areas and exposed corrupted officials, which is conducive to regime building at grassroots level and the construction of a clean government, says the Committee.

The meeting also decided to tighten security during the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games.

To safeguard the national peace and social stability and curb the spread of mafia-style gang crimes are also in line with the need to ensure a sound social environment for the Olympics, says the meeting.

The meeting also decided to intensify efforts to further crack the evil and underground forces, remove the "umbrellas" that protect the mafia-style gangs, and mobilize the masses to provide help in this effort.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2008)