Aug 8-24 crime rate the lowest in 8 years

By Wang Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-30 08:28

Beijing police cracked 930 street crime cases such as theft, robbery and fraud from July 1 to Aug 24, in the lead-up to and during the Olympic Games.

A total of 1,000 suspects, including 40 foreigners, were seized, an official with the city's public security bureau told a press conference on Friday.

The number of street crimes during the Aug 8-24 Olympic period dropped 72.2 percent compared with the same period last year, the lowest since 2000, thanks to intensified security measures, said bureau official Ma Xichu.

More than 100,000 police - including 1,000 plainclothes officers - were deployed across the city for the big event.

The crime rate for foreigners is also low in Olympic history, he said.

All 40 foreign suspects have been either detained or expelled from China, according to the bureau, which refused to reveal their nationalities or names.

But the bureau disclosed several big crimes committed by foreigners

They included the theft of two high-end mobile phones valued at 204,000 yuan ($30,400) from the Vertu store in the city's Oriental Plaza shopping mall.

Police later caught three suspects who confessed to the crime, and retrieved the two stolen mobile phones.

The three suspects, one uncle and two cousins, had previously committed crimes in a number of countries.

"Before the Olympics, we received special training on dealing with international theft cases," Ma said.

He said that during the Olympics, many places witnessed zero crime, such as Tian'anmen Square and the Palace Museum.