'Green' crime team formed

KUNMING: Local public security and environmental protection bureaus have combined their efforts to facilitate environmental law enforcement with the foundation of a special police force in Kunming, capital of Yunan province.

The 60-strong police force, formed under the municipal public security bureau on Tuesday, is responsible for dealing with criminal acts in environmental pollution within the city, as well as assisting the environment bureau with administrative law enforcement, an officer surnamed Li at Kunming public security bureau told China Daily yesterday.

The move, regarded as the first of its kind, came in the wake of an arsenic pollution incident at Yangzong Lake, one of the nine plateau lakes in Yunnan.