Plainclothes police will patrol the main streets of Beijing starting from the upcoming National Day holiday as part of a major crackdown on street crime, said Fu Zhenghua, director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Thursday.

The patrols will start from Oct 1 and last till Jan 10 next year. The police will focus on the capital's main shopping areas and tourist sites to fight crimes such as robbery, theft and swindling.

Security checks will also continue at subway stations, the Beijing News quoted the bureau as saying Thursday.

The moves are also aimed at preventing crimes from occurring after the recent Olympic and Paralympic Games, the bureau said.

During the Games, 36,000 plainclothes police were stationed around Olympic venues. Similarly, cases of theft in public areas dropped by 46 percent during the international sporting events, the lowest since 2000, bureau data showed.

About 70 million passengers and 72 million bags were checked at subway stations during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. About 18,700 prohibited goods were found and more than 30 people were detained.

(China Daily September 26, 2008)