Border control violations rose dramatically in the first half of the year, according to the latest figures from the Supreme People's Procuratorate, China's top prosecuting authority.
In a report released on Sunday, it said 10,707 suspects were charged by prosecutors across the country, 3.5 times more than the figure for the same period last year.
The number of cases has multiplied as the result of a campaign against cross-border gambling and telecommunications fraud, and because of better COVID-19 pandemic control inside China, the SPP's case management office said in a statement accompanying the release of the report.
Locations with prominent problems along the border included Yunnan and Guangdong provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Some 7,789 suspects were charged with illegally crossing the border, a figure 4.3 times greater than the number charged in the first half of last year.
The National Immigration Administration said immigration officers in Yunnan captured two stowaways on Jan 11 who had attempted to engage in telecom fraud outside the country, and through information provided by the pair, they were also able to capture a gang of human traffickers.
By the end of May, 44 suspects in the case had been charged with illegally crossing the border.
Others charged with border control crimes include those suspected of making or selling fake travel documents and vandalizing border control facilities.
The figures from the top procuratorate showed that more than 1.1 million suspects were charged with crimes nationwide between January and June this year, more than the number of suspects charged during the same period in 2019.
In the first half of the year, 634,924 suspects were arrested, a year-on-year increase of 77.7 percent.
"This shows that as COVID-19 pandemic control takes hold, the number of criminal cases is increasing," the SPP said.
Dangerous driving topped the list with about 174,000 prosecutions, accounting for 21.9 percent of total criminal cases. Most dangerous driving cases happened in populated regions like Guangdong, Shandong and Henan provinces.
Theft ranked second with about 97,000 cases, followed by fraud with about 52,000.
After the 11th amendment to the Criminal Law came into effect on March 1, a total of 17 new criminal offenses were added to the books.
By the end of June, 2,085 people suspected of the new offenses had been charged by procuratorates nationwide, the majority for assaulting police, a criminal act that is now punishable by up to 7 years in prison.
A man surnamed Qu, sentenced to a year in prison on March 26 by a court in Danling county, Sichuan province, was the first in the province to be sentenced for the crime. The incident happened when a police officer tried to break up a fight in which Qu was involved.
The number of economic and cyber crimes also climbed in the first half of this year, with more than 157,000 suspects charged, the highest figure in recent years.