Society

9,000 fugitives surrender to police in past month

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-07-06 06:35

BEIJING - More than 9,000 convicts or criminal suspects on the run have turned themselves in to police since China launched an online campaign to hunt down escapees one month ago, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday.

The total number of wanted criminals and suspects has dropped 9 percent thanks to the campaign, the ministry said in a statement.

Police authorities across the country should continue to hunt down the fugitives through stricter investigations and closer cooperation between police authorities of different regions and levels, said Liu Jinguo, deputy head of the ministry, in the statement.

Liu urged greater efforts to persuade the fugitives to give themselves up to police.

In some regions, police issued public notices calling for the fugitives to surrender as well as wrote to or visited their family members and encouraged them to cooperate with the authorities, according to the statement.

Further, Liu said more attention should be paid to mobilizing the public, through rewards, to provide information on the whereabouts of fugitives.