China had cracked down on 86 underground banks by this September in a bid to stop the increasing illegal trade of foreign exchange.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE, said Tuesday that joint operations by SAFE and the police have successfully retrieved nearly 50 million yuan, or 7 million US dollars, from underground banks this year.

About 194 suspects have been arrested and 290 accounts frozen in cases such as illegal foreign exchange trading, fake investment, money laundering and loan fraud.

However, SAFE also admits that as the illegal foreign exchange business is growing and becomes more sophisticated it is getting harder to detect the crime.

(CRI.com November 3, 2004)