Chinese police have reported that they have launched and deployed the first round of intensified operations against organized crime, dismantling more than 1,000 criminal gangs, arresting over 8,200 criminals, and solving more than 5,400 criminal cases.
According to the Ministry of Public Security's WeChat public account, the national public security agencies have maintained a constant high-pressure crackdown against organized crime in recent years, resulting in effective containment. However, some criminal activities have become more covert and transformed, rapidly developing through the internet or using 'soft violence' tactics. In particular, new forms of organized crime such as online 'loan sharking', soft violence debt collection, extortion via public opinion, malicious compensation claims, staged accidents for compensation, forced consumption, and online bullying have become prevalent and severely undermine normal economic and social order while seriously affecting public safety perceptions.
The Ministry of Public Security claims that, based on a thorough review of case leads, local public security agencies have been deployed to launch a unified first round of concentrated operations, successfully dismantling a number of organized criminal gangs.
For example, police authorities in Zhejiang busted a criminal gang involved in online 'loan sharking' with soft violence debt collection, arresting 109 criminals. In Shandong, after meticulous investigation, police dismantled a gang that staged traffic accidents to extort money from motorists, arresting 27 individuals. In Henan, authorities took down a group that extorted online stores through malicious complaints, capturing 41 criminal suspects. In Guangdong, police proactively investigated clues and took down eight labor gangs that extorted construction sites by staging labor disputes, arresting 65 suspects.