But there was no need to take it too seriously. It was only a practice with the new Global Positioning System (GPS), a satellite system, being used on security vans in Beijing for the first time.

On a huge screen on the wall at the command center, the position of the van could be seen clearly. It was parked in front of the China National Agricultural Exhibition Hall, on the capital's congested East Third Ring.

The exact latitude and longitude of the van was gauged.

The command center immediately contacted the driver, who confirmed, for the purpose of the exercise, that the alarm was not a mistake.

Nearby police cars, each with four policemen in, were then ordered to the scene to intercept the hijacked van.

Five minutes later, the "criminals" in the hijacked van "surrendered" to the police.

With a GPS device installed, security vans can easily be found by the police in an emergency.

According to police officer Shi Cheng, 800 of the capital's nearly 1,000 security vans in eight urban districts -- belonging to 19 different banks -- have been installed with the device. The remaining 200 will be fitted soon.

Banks in suburban areas are also considering introducing the system this year.

Over the past three years, the bureau has achieved remarkable results in fighting bank robberies.

According to Liu De, deputy director of the bureau, no criminals have managed to steal cash from banks in Beijing in the past three years.

Each GPS device costs about 10,000 yuan (US$1,200).

Although similar systems have been put into use in other municipalities, such as Shanghai and Tianjin, it is the first time this kind of system has been used in such a wide area, according to another officer at the bureau.

There was a series of bank robberies in China last year.

(China Daily 01/09/2001)