People's courts in Beijing dealt with 170 counterfeit money-related cases from April to October this year, confiscating fake bank notes with face value of 2.04 million yuan (approximately US$240,000) and US$312,000.
Among the 243 suspects in the cases, farmers, laborers, and unemployed people accounted for a large proportion of suspects.
The local courts have concluded 154 cases and sentenced 26 criminals to either life imprisonment or five or more years of prison according to their crimes.
Since June 1998, the municipality has intensified the fight against such crimes by exerting severe punishments on criminals, confiscating individual properties and imposing heavy fines.
(People's Daily 12/12/2000)
