Shandong province arrests over 17,000 in mafia-style crime crackdown

JINAN -- East China's Shandong province arrested 17,585 suspects related to mafia-style crimes last year, the provincial government said Tuesday.

Nearly 20 billion yuan (about $2.9 billion) involved was seized, up 575 percent, said Liang Zhanguang, deputy head of the provincial commission for political and legal affairs.

A total of 2,209 criminal gangs belonging to 113 mafia organizations were busted, official statistics showed.

Liang said Shandong stepped up the regulation of illegal activities in the exploitation of mineral resources, taxi transport and market competition, where mafia-style crimes used to be frequent.