Chinese authorities confiscated more than 8.5 million illegal publications in the first quarter of 2010, the National Anti-Pornography and Anti-Illegal Publications Office said in a statement Wednesday.

Of the 8.516 million seized illegal publications, 7.876 million were pirated publications, 184,000 were pornographic, and 249,000 were illegal newspapers and periodicals, according to the statement.

Authorities also busted five sets of facilities that were used for the production of illegal audio and video disks, the statement said.

During the period, a national center for public reports of illegal publications received 140,028 reports and paid rewards totalling 470,000 yuan (about 69,000 U.S. dollars) to 460 people who made such reports, the statement said.

Local courts during the period dealt with seven cases of dissemination of obscenity for profit via the Internet or wap sites, and another 40 such cases have been referred to prosecutors, according to the statement.