Beijing police catch over 860 over online crime support

More than 860 people suspected of providing online technological support or fund settlement platforms for violators have been caught since the beginning of this year, with about 670 in criminal detention, Beijing police said on Thursday.

While strengthening the fight against those making use of the internet to do online crimes, including fraud, gambling, spreading pornography or stealing others' personal information, the capital's police have also increased efforts to cut off the chains and industries where the violators obtained technological services, according to a statement of the Beijing Public Security Bureau.

From May to July, for example, five suspects in four workshops have been detained after they were found having allegedly embedded overseas gambling website links in normal web pages by seeking the pages' loopholes, the authority said.

"The suspects attacked the web pages first and then lured netizens to click the gambling links," it said. "After discovering these clues, our police officers in Xicheng, Chaoyang and Fengtai districts jointly investigated the case and finally cracked down on the suspects."

Further investigation into the case is still ongoing, it added.

In May, the city's police also detained seven people, including those on suspicion of building websites for uploading abundant child-related pornographic videos as well as those allegedly offering websites technological support and providing payment services for websites, according to the authority.

The bureau pledged on Thursday that police officers across the city will further intensify the force to eliminate such technological industries to effectively protect netizens' property and personal rights in cyberspace and to provide residents with a sense of security.