The number of criminal explosion cases as well as gun crimes in China dropped by 13.4 and 33.1 percent year on year, respectively, in the first five months of 2010, Ministry of Public Security said in a statement Monday.

The statement, however, did not provide exact numbers.

Police nationwide seized over 351 tonnes of explosives, 1.7 million detonators, 15,000 guns, 1.84 million bullets, 300,000 imitation guns and 170,000 illegal knives since the launching of a national crackdown on illegal explosive and guns, the statement said.

The widespread publicity about the police crackdown apparently paid off with 3,099 tips received from the public which led to the solving of 1,538 cases and the arrest of 2,065 suspects, said the statement.

Those who provided information to police were rewarded with 960,000 yuan ($141,000) in total, it said.