BEIJING, Feb. 17 -- Police in China have adopted strong measures to push forward a special operation against cyberspace-related organized crimes.

Noting that organized crime is increasingly making inroads into cyberspace, the Ministry of Public Security urged police across the country to fully understand the danger of the crime and give weight to the special operation in their daily work to combat organized crimes.

Their operation will primarily target criminal offenses such as online loan fraud and debt collection that employs soft-violence tactics.

The ministry has called for strengthened criminal research and legal policy support in cooperation with other relevant authorities and stressed the importance of early warning, precautionary measures and joint crackdown mechanisms.

It launched a special operation with eight relevant departments in 2022. So far, they have brought down more than 400 criminal gangs, including over 20 mafia-like organizations. Over 8,800 such cases have been cracked as part of the special operation.