BEIJING — Chinese police have retrieved more than 40,000 items of cultural relics since the Ministry of Public Security began to launch special annual crackdowns on crimes involving cultural relics in 2018, the ministry said on Aug 20.

The recovered cultural relics were involved in more than 3,480 cases cracked by police officers nationwide, the ministry said.

The crackdown operations were jointly carried out by the Ministry of Public Security and the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

The ministry has launched an online platform publicizing information on lost or stolen relics in the hope of soliciting tipoffs, and is sharing the information with Interpol to track down lost Chinese cultural relics overseas.