BEIJING - Police have apprehended a large number of fugitive criminal suspects in a campaign that began in May, the Ministry of Public Security said on Saturday.

In the high-profile crackdown, 12,000 fugitive homicide suspects and 23,000 other fugitives whose whereabouts had remained unknown to the police for at least 10 years were detained, the ministry said in a statement.

More than 900 escapees were captured or extradited from 77 countries and regions in the six-month campaign, it said.

Police located and detained 19,000 people based on more than 30,000 tips provided by the public.

The ministry said that 190 fugitives on the "most wanted" list were also apprehended.

Zong Liyong, one of those on the list, was captured at Beijing Capital International Airport in late July after 18 years on the run, the authority said.

In May 1993, four gangs allegedly robbed a Beijing-Moscow train repeatedly and raped three women. Police from both countries managed to round up more than 70 alleged gangsters within half a year, but Zong, who is alleged to have been a gang leader, managed to flee.

According to the police, Zong changed his name to Li Yong on his passport and escaped to Europe. To escape detection, he avoided taking a job and supported himself by gambling.

In 2006, he came back to China.

On the day Zong was detained, he was about to fly to Macao for gambling, but the embarkation card - on which he wrote his real name - gave him away, police said.

During the campaign, the police also seized Wang Baolian, who absconded to Canada with about 4 billion yuan ($630 million) from illegal fundraising, and Yu Hao, a major drug trafficker from Shandong province, the statement said.

"All public security authorities in the country can share information on fugitives through an online database. This campaign, which was well-organized and concerted, has proven to be more effective than an individual raid by a particular region," Dai Peng, dean of the criminal investigation department of the Chinese People's Public Security University, told China Daily on Sunday.

Dai noted that these large campaigns required many police, and they also raised thorny questions about legal procedures in other countries involved in transnational cases.

Many people said they are encouraged by the police force's achievements.

"It is good news for ordinary people like me," said Zhu Deque, a 36-year-old Beijing resident. "Those fugitives would remain a tremendous threat to the public as long as they were at large. And now they have to pay their debt."

"Some people feel unsafe before the Spring Festival since the holiday period is deemed by many as a high season for crimes," wrote a netizen who goes under the name Qoo366 on sina.com.cn.

"The detention of such a large group of criminals will definitely pacify our anxiety."

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