China targets drugs, gambling, online crimes   (Xinhua)  Updated: 2006-06-29 22:23  China will step up its 
efforts to crack down on drugs, gambling and online crimes to create a clean 
social environment, said Chief Justice Xiao Yang on Thursday. 
At the national meeting of higher people's courts' presidents, the president 
of the Supreme People's Court promised "severe punishments" for such crimes and 
ordered local courts to play their role in criminal case judgement to maintain 
social stability and harmony. 
 According to the 2006 China drug fighting report by the National Narcotics 
Control Commission, drug use and trafficking have become the source of many 
crimes as drug users scrape together money from drug trafficking, theft, robber 
and prostitution. 
 In some regions unspecified in the report, 60 to 80 percent of robbery or 
theft cases are committed by drug users. 
 In addition, about 1.3 million gamblers are checked by Chinese police every 
year and the number is rising. 
 Criminals are also increasingly using the Internet to cheat people out of 
money or threaten online security. 
 Xiao also said that local courts should clamp down on crimes jeopardizing 
state security, violent crimes like murder, robbery and kidnapping, terrorism, 
mafia crimes, corruption cases and crimes related to serious safety 
accidents.  
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