HK fugitive suspected of smuggling was captured

22:36, December 22, 2019

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  China captures 99,000 telecom fraud suspects in campaign

  BEIJING, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have cracked 118,000 cases of telecom fraud and captured 99,000 suspects during their "Cloud Sword" operation launched in June, the Ministry of Public Security said Wednesday.File photo by Chinanews.comThe figures marked a year-on-year increase of 62.7 percent and 135.6 percent, respectively, said Liu Zhongyi, director of the criminal investigation bureau under the ministry, at a press conference.In the operation, the ministry sent police from 13 provincial regions to Cambodia, the Philippines and Laos, and the four sides cooperated to destroy a large number of fraud dens and brought a total of 2,553 telecom fraud suspects back to China."The pursuit of the fugitives achieved the best result in eight years," Liu said.The number of fugitives captured during the campaign reached 243,000, 96 of whom were on the ministrys class-A wanted list, figures from the ministry show.Police also busted 4,205 groups for offering fraudulent loans and 576 groups for scams under the pretext of "unfreezing national assets."Liu said "Cloud Sword" has contributed to the continued stability of the overall social security situation. From January to November this year, the number of criminal cases filed nationwide dropped by 3.9 percent and the number of serious violent crimes dropped by 10.4 percent."Multiple departments have made joint effort to crack down on telecom and cyberspace fraud because more criminals have applied modern communication tools and online banking technology to commit fraud in recent years, causing serious economic losses to the victims," the ministrys spokesperson Guo Lin added.The ministry vowed to make all-out efforts to arrest fugitives, curb the rising trend of new types of cyber crimes, and create a good social security environment for the people to celebrate New Years Day and Spring Festival. Enditem

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  20 IS foreign suspects detained in Istanbul

  (Photo: AP)ISTANBUL, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Thursday detained 20 foreign nationals and a Turkish citizen in Istanbul over their suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group.Police launched operations simultaneously in 48 locations across the city to capture the suspects, who were believed to have been planning terror attacks, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.Some organizational documents and digital materials were also seized during the raids.The nationalities of the foreign suspects were not immediately clear.IS militants have been blamed for a series of deadly attacks in Turkey over the past years, in which more than 300 people were killed.

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  Syrian army captures village, missile kills 8 civilians

  Civilians ride in a truck as they flee Maaret al-Numan, Syria, ahead of a government offensive, Monday, Dec. 23, 2019. (Photo: AP)A missile struck a school building in northwestern Syria on Tuesday morning, killing eight civilians, opposition activists said, as government forces captured a key village held by al-Qaida insurgents in the war-torn country’s last rebel stronghold.Syrian government troops also surrounded a Turkish observation post in the area, the activists said. They said the village of Jarjanaz was captured from al-Qaida late Monday.Syrian forces launched a wide ground offensive last week into the northwestern province of Idlib, which is dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants. The offensive follows weeks of bombardment that has displaced tens of thousands of people.The United Nations estimates that some 60,000 people have fled from the area, heading south, after the bombings intensified earlier this month. Thousands more have fled further north toward the Turkish border in recent days, where the UN has warned of the growing risk of a humanitarian catastrophe. Idlib province is home to some 3 million civilians.More than 40 villages and hamlets have come under government control in southern parts of Idlib since Thursday, according to activists and Syrian Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub. The military statement called on civilians to stay away from militant positions and asked them to come to government-held areas if they can.The activists blamed Russia — Syrian President Bashar Assad’s main ally in the war — for Tuesday’s missile attack, which hit the Jobas village school. Among the eight killed were five children and a woman, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.Syrian citizen journalist Hussein Khattab reported the same death toll. The school building was used by people displaced by violence in other parts of the country, the Observatory and Khattab said.Syrian troops have been pushing toward the rebel-held town of Maaret al-N...