Police raids net 236 fraud suspects

Simultaneous police operations across 10 provinces and regions involving more than 1,400 officers have led to the detention of 236 suspects connected with telephone fraud, it has been revealed.

Code-named Jufeng 2, the raids on March 25 saw police in Guangdong province alone target 127 criminal hideouts in no fewer than 12 prefecture-level cities.

The suspects detained included 26 who were on the police wanted list, Lin Weixiong, director of Guangdong provincial department of public security’s criminal investigation bureau, told a news conference in Guangzhou on Wednesday.

Also seized were 237,300 yuan ($36,507) in cash, 438 mobile phones, 275 SIM cards, 1,115 bank cards and a number of point of sale machines.

Jufeng 2 has dealt a "heavy blow" to the telephone fraud racket that used to be active in Guangdong and other parts of the country, Lin said, adding: "Police will never relax their vigilance in the fight against this type of crime".

The police director hinted that similar campaigns code-named Jufeng 3 and Jufeng 4 will be launched in the coming months to further diminish telephone fraud.

Earlier this month, Guangdong police detained a total of 218 suspects in an operation code-named Jufeng 1, which saw them bust a major cross-border telephone fraud gang in cooperation with their counterparts in Cambodia.

In total, 180 mainlanders and 38 foreign residents were detained, with those caught abroad being brought back to Guangzhou aboard a chartered plane from Cambodia on March 12.

The gang’s biggest victim was defrauded for more than 4 million yuan, Lin said.