China arrested 1.163 million people involved in 313,000 gambling-related cases in the first three quarters of this year, the Ministry of Public Security said Thursday.

The anti-gambling move was initiated by the central government in January this year. The main targets of the drive were civil servants suspected of squandering public money in casinos.

In the first five months of the operation, police uncovered about 163,000 gambling cases, and seized 2.33 billion yuan (US$288 million) in cash, the ministry said.

According to statistics from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for January to October, China punished 8,735 members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for gambling.

"Cross-border gambling, especially by government officials, could directly undermine national security and social stability, and tarnish the CPC's image," Liu Xirong, an official with the Discipline Inspection Commission, said.

Cai Haowen, a former transportation management official in Yanbian City in the northeastern province of Jilin, which borders the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment in May for embezzling and gambling away 3.18 million yuan (US$384,000) in public funds in a foreign casino.

"We have closed 30 travel agencies that have packages to overseas casinos and 19 underground banks so far this year," Liu said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2005)