Chinese police will launch a sweeping crackdown on criminal
gangs that have received help from corrupt officials to steal oil
and gas from drilling rigs and the country's pipelines.
"Police departments must conduct thorough criminal
investigations into the mafia-style oil thefts without interference
from local government officials," said Liu Jinguo, vice-minister of
Public Security, on Wednesday.
The campaign will target Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner
Mongolia, Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei and Shandong, through which the
West-to-East Gas pipelines run.
The eight-month campaign is being launched following raids last
year that busted 650 gangs, resulting in 7,522 people being charged
with stealing oil. The government also closed 2,182 underground
plants that processed the stolen oil.
In last year's raids police found that 6,496 vehicles were used
to transport the stolen oil and gas and more than 30,000 tons of
oil products were confiscated. Authorities also recovered assets
worth 600 million yuan, Liu said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2007)