Beijing police capture 102 fugitives in death-related cases

A total of 102 fugitives involved in death-related cases were captured last year, Beijing police said on Friday.

Of the 118 long-standing cases, 54 percent went back more than 20 years and 47 of the fugitives had been on the run for over two decades, according to the Beijing Public Security Bureau. The most extreme example was a case that had been pending for 35 years, the bureau said.

The application of advanced technologies had helped solve the cases, said Yuan Lin, head of the bureau's criminal investigation department. The ongoing and intensified police work of officers across the capital should also be acknowledged, he said.

"Some cases were even solved by police after passing from generation to generation," he said. "Our goal has never changed, which is to uphold justice, maintain the authority of the law, help residents resolve disputes and provide them with a sense of security."

In one case, Beijing police traveled to several provinces, including Hubei, Fujian and Hunan, and spent a month contacting more than 10,000 people and interviewing 200 of them to locate a suspect. Jin Yan, an official from the department said "we knew no clue could be missed".

Besides strengthening the force's efforts to resolve homicide-related cases, Beijing police also paid greater attention to fighting online fraud last year.

More than 8,600 cases relating to online and telecom frauds were solved, and over 8,300 suspects arrested, according to statistics from the bureau released on Friday. Both figures are an 80 percent year-on-year increase.