Guangdong police take down Hong Kong, Macao criminals

A senior police officer has reiterated that the prosperous province of Guangdong will never become a heaven for criminals from neighboring Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Qian Bo, deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Bureau with Guangdong Provincial Department of Public Security, made the remarks when police across Guangdong province busted 10 major cross-border criminal gangs during a joint police operation with their Hong Kong and Macao counterparts from May 9 to 13.

Police detained a total of 783 suspects, including dozens of Hong Kong and Macao residents, targeting cross-border crimes, including organized crimes, drug, online gambling, triad related crimes, prostitution, smuggling of weapons, illegal immigrations and telephone frauds.

"Police have also seized more than 1,000 kilograms of different kinds of drugs, 33 guns, 19,509 bullets and frozen bank accounts with deposits of more than 58 million yuan ($8.92 million) when they have cracked down on 198 cross-border cases during the 5-day operation," Qian told a press conference in this Guangdong provincial capital on Sunday.

"A total of 5,923 target venues and 29,753 vehicles were investigated during the operation," he said. A total of 36,138 police officers from 11 cities in the Pearl River delta of Guangdong have attended the joint operation, said Qian.

Shenzhen police detained 33 suspects, with 22 having a secret-society background, when they busted a major cross-border gambling gang headed by Hong Kong residents. Three Hong Kong residents were detained.

Police also seized cash valued at 1.15 million yuan, plus more than 1.2 million Hong Kong dollars, while nine computers and many bank cards were also seized.

Police from Foshan city's Shunde district detained a total of 62 suspects, including Hong Kong residents, when they raided a major online gambling gang during the operation.

Police from Dongguan detained 11 suspects and seized cashes valued at 14.98 million yuan and more than 504,000 worth of Hong Kong dollars plus plenty of bank saving books, cards, cheques, computers, mobile hones and vehicles after cracking down on four secret private banks.

Despite the achievements, Guangdong will continue to spare no effort to further advance their co-operation with Hong Kong and Macao counterparts and more joint operation in the fight against cross-border crimes in the following months, according to Qian.

He hinted Guangdong police will soon launch a joint operation with Hong Kong counterpart to fight against illegal online soccer bet during the European Cup period.

The month-long European Cup that will take place in France from June 10 to July 10. This is usually the peak period for illegal soccer bets in the southern Chinese region.

Lai Tung-kwok, Secretary for Security of Hong Kong, just completed a tour to Guangdong province and?Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region last week.

"Lai sought to expand co-operation in information exchanges and launching more than joint operations with Guangdong police to fight illegal immigrations and other organized cross-border crimes," Qian said.

"Lai met senior police officers and visited major exit and entry checkpoints when he visited Guangdong," Qian added.