Guandong police launch crackdown on campus loan sharks

Effective and concrete measures are being introduced to fight loan sharks on university campuses in Guangdong province, a senior police officer said on Thursday.

Zhang Rui, political commissar of the provincial criminal investigation bureau, said Guangdong police are expanding cooperation with other government departments in the fight against crime.

"Campus loan sharks have not only proved disruptive to local universities and colleges, they have also destroyed the lives of their victims and their victims' families, friends and relatives," he said at a news conference.

"Therefore, police should spare no effort fighting this type of crime."

Some students have been targeted by loan sharks demanding nude photographs as collateral, which are made public if the debt is not repaid with interest, causing emotional distress and mental anguish, Zhang said.

He made the remarks after police across the province detained more than 180 suspects in a recent campaign code-named Jufeng 19, which targeted campus loan sharks.

As part of the campaign, officers uncovered 20 hideouts used to plan the loan shark schemes and seized a large number of computers, mobile phones, bank cards and books.

More than 350 victims of the schemes have been identified, Zhang said.

One such victim, surnamed Chen, went to the police after a loan shark allegedly attempted to blackmail her using nude photos and video she had given him in return for a 3,000 yuan ($440) loan.

Police accused the man, surnamed Shi, of threatening to release the material online on April 5 unless Chen paid him 1,000 yuan. He has been detained.