国内英语新闻:China's nationwide crackdown on gang crimes remains tough

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Reasserting its determination to crush gang crimes, China's Ministry of Public Security released a list of 52 major cases of gang crimes across the country and said it would supervise the handling of these cases in a circular issued on Tuesday.

The ministry would appoint officers to supervise and track the investigation of these cases, while at the same time providing expertise and technological support, the circular said.

It specifically ordered police chiefs, in areas where the mob cases occurred, to personally lead the investigation and said they would be held accountable for the investigation.

Police nationwide must strengthen cooperation with disciplined inspection and supervision departments to remove the mafia's "protective umbrellas" and root out its financial resources by confiscating all asserts related to gang crimes.

This was the eighth such listing released by the ministry since a long-term national campaign to crackdown on gang crimes began in February 2006.

Since then, the ministry has supervised the handling of 296 major cases of gang crimes. Among them, 270 have been prosecuted and courts have handed down sentences in 210 cases, according to the circular.

It cited one severe case in which a 27-member mafia group was apprehended by police in central Hubei Province for murdering, organizing gambling, and monopolizing construction projects.

The group leader, Jin Gangqiao, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.