Chinese police beef up efforts to reunite missing children with families

Children play at Xinghuagou wetland park transformed from the mining subsidence area of Jingxing in Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Luo Xuefeng)

BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have cracked 206 cold cases involving child trafficking and arrested 543 suspects linked to such crimes since a nationwide campaign was launched in January to help reunite such victims with their families.

During the period, police have rescued 4,142 missing or abducted children, including adults who had gone missing or were kidnapped as kids, said Liu Zhongyi, director of the criminal investigation bureau under the Ministry of Public Security, at a press conference on Friday.

Liu added that one victim was traced after a span of 61 years.

Public security agencies across China have cracked 5,135 child trafficking cases since 2012 and arrested 23,000 suspects involved in these cases, Liu said.

There has been a decline in crimes involving child trafficking from 5,907 in 2012 to 666 in 2020, the official said.