Organized crimes in the municipality have been given a heavy blow in one of its largest campaign recently.

Prosecutors in the city have filed charges in the past week against 103 suspects in 29 cases involving serious organized crime and crimes of violence in public places, the Shanghai People's Procuratorate announced yesterday.

A release from the procuratorate said the suspects are believed to be taking part in organized crime, murder, intentional injury, robbery, rape, drug selling and other crimes.

Zou Chuanji, spokesman for the procuratorate, said prosecutors were stepping up the fight against these crimes "in consideration of Shanghai's current security situation."

He added that they will spare no efforts to find out whoever uses his or her power to support such organization and crime.

Ji Gang, prosecution department director for the procuratorate, said officials were reviewing cases that involved suspects using their power to support crime.

"But this is not the right time to release that information," Ji said.

Organized crime has been on the rise in the past year in Shanghai, the release said. For example, in 2003, 45 suspects in four cases were accused of being involved large-sized organized crimes. The number of such cases so far this year was already more than 10.

Also, the Shanghai Zhabei District People's Court announced yesterday a guilty verdict in one of those cases. Nine gang members who conspired to organize gambling, extortion, conduct detention and possess firearms were sentenced to prison terms of between four and a half and 20 years.

The procuratorate also noted an obvious increase in organized crime and violence conducted by suspects from abroad.

One case involved a fight in Shanghai after police said the manager of a karaoke facility and his wife went to Macao last May and compiled a gambling debt of 300,000 yuan (US$37,000).

The gambling place sent a woman surnamed Hua to Shanghai to collect the debt, police said, and the resulting fight caused one death and one serious injury last August 28.

Now participants in the fight face charges of mass crime and intentional injury.

(China Daily April 12, 2006)