A fugitive suspected of running a major counterfeit money operation, who spent five years in hiding, has finally given himself up to police in this southern province.

Guo Mouguang, 37, of Guiyu township in Shantou's Chaoyang district in Guangdong province, has been wanted for questioning about a counterfeiting operation discovered in March 2004.

Lei Fei, a police officer with Shantou Public Security Bureau's Chaoyang branch, said Guo's surrender was part of a nationwide crackdown on counterfeiting, which began on May 18 and runs through October.

Guo, who is accused of running the counterfeiting operation solo, was detained by police but has not been charged.

Huamei village in Lufeng's Hudong township in the city of Shanwei derived its main income from counterfeit operations, according to reports in the Nanfang Daily.

The village has a population of about 5,700, and 49 people have received counterfeiting convictions and two have been given the death penalty, it said.

Yuan Yongchao, an official with the provincial committee for the comprehensive administration of social security, said provincial authorities have solved 17 counterfeiting cases, four of which involved counterfeit money of more than 1 million yuan. Police also uprooted one hideout for fake money processing and have arrested 27 suspects since the crackdown began.

A total of 40 criminals involved in counterfeiting operations have been sentenced to death in the past decade.

"The province of Guangdong is one of the few fake money hotbeds in China. We are in high gear to prevent such crimes from running further rampant," he told China Daily yesterday.

The committee put Lufeng of Shanwei, Huilai of Jieyang, Chaonan district of Shantou in the east of the province and Baiyun district of Guangzhou in the list of the key regions to investigate due to the rampancy of counterfeiting crimes there, authorities said.

"Those regions will be urged to continue the investigation work if the fake money crimes cannot be kept well under control in the half year," he said. Top leaders there, including government officials and police, may be "subject to demotion" if they are unable to stop the counterfeiting, Yuan said.

A family processing fake money earns no more than 200 yuan a day, said Xu Wenhai, director of the provincial public security department's economic crime investigation bureau.

"It is not always an easy way to make money; however, the punishment is always stringent," Xu said.

The police are offering rewards to anyone who provides information that helps them uncover fake money hideouts or track down crucial suspects. The maximum award is 500,000 yuan, authorities said.

(China Daily July 28, 2009)