Chinese police bust 600 online criminal gangs

BEIJING - Chinese police have busted more than 600 criminal gangs for Internet-based crimes such as spreading lewd content, arms dealing and illegally collecting citizens' personal information since a special campaign was launched in March.

As of June, more than 10,000 suspects had been arrested and some 3.2 million "harmful" online messages had been deleted, according to a statement released Wednesday by the Ministry of Public Security.

Major crimes uncovered during the crackdown involved spreading pornographic information, trading guns, wiretapping devices, counterfeiting certificates as well as illegally collecting and selling citizens' personal information, said the ministry.

Moreover, 62 websites and online forums have been ordered to remove inappropriate content, and 30 Internet service providers have been punished for granting network access to unlicensed websites.

"Although illegal and harmful information on the Internet has been reduced sharply through intensified crackdowns, fraudulent messages are still seen occasionally... and some telecom service providers are not strict enough when managing websites," the statement said.

The ministry said it will deepen the campaign against online crimes and vowed harsher punishments for perpetrators.