Police in southern China's Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macao have jointly broken up more than 1,340 criminal gangs in a drive against cross-border crime from August to September, the Guangdong provincial security bureau said Friday.

The massive police operation -- in which the Province's police cooperated with their counterparts in Hong Kong and Macao -- involved 1,872 cases connected to triads, and encompassed the breaking of phone-and-web-based swindling rackets as well as narcotics manufacturing and trafficking cases.

A total of 8,139 suspects was captured during cross-border anti-crime operations during the crack down.

As well, 185 unlicensed guns were seized and 7.15 million yuan (1.05 million US dollars) in cash was confiscated.

Li Xiaoqing, a senior anti-crime official with the Guangdong public security bureau, said criminal cases solved included 213 phone-based swindling cases, one involving more than 100 suspects, including approximately 40 from Taiwan.

(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2009)