Decades-long support fuels growth of Lhasa

According to Wang, in the first half of last year, officers discovered that a network of hackers had taken control of the ticketing systems at popular tourist sites such as the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.

"Through technical means, they engaged in illegal ticket theft and sales, severely disrupting and damaging the tourism market order in Lhasa. This led to a period during which tickets for these sites were extremely difficult to obtain," Wang said.

Subsequently, he led a special task force to conduct investigations and apprehend suspects in provincial-level regions such as Jiangsu, Guangdong, Sichuan, Beijing and Zhejiang.

After more than six months, the case was successfully cracked, and two main suspects were sentenced according to the law, Wang said.

"This case became the first successful prosecution in the country against a hacker group illegally accessing computer information systems to commit technical ticket fraud," he said.

Contact the writers at palden_nyima@chinadaily.com.cn