BEIJING – China’s Ministry of Public Security Wednesday said it has launched a special operation against criminal activities of illegally crossing the border or frontier and organizing such offenses.

The action will clamp down on organizing and transporting illegal border crossings and using fake licenses in the process, as well as organizing, inveigling, and recruiting personnel into crossing the border illicitly.

It is also aimed to guard against imported COVID-19 infections. Since December 2020 when a similar campaign was initiated, Chinese police have investigated 18,700 criminal cases, with over 96,000 suspects captured and 797 criminal dens busted, said the ministry.