China's national anti-pornography and anti-piracy office on Wednesday announced four major cases of illegal publications and bogus journalists had been dealt with this year.

-- Police in Shenzhen, southern province of Guangdong, in cooperation with the local anti-pornography and anti-piracy office, broke up a gang smuggling illegal publications led by two couples on July 7, arresting seven alleged ringleaders and seizing more than 1,000 publications.

-- Shenzhen police also arrested 10 people allegedly involved in the sale of illegal publications and confiscated almost 250,000 copies of 127 newspapers and more than 220,000 yuan (US$29,000) in illegal earnings.

-- A court in northern Shanxi Province sentenced two people pretending to be journalists to three years and one year in prison respectively for extortion and blackmail.

-- Hunan Press and Publications Administration revoked the press license of a printing factory in the provincial capital, Changsha, on May 15 on the grounds it had printed about 630,000 copies of 268 books pirated in name of 21 major domestic publishers, with a total value of more than 20 million yuan (US$2.6 million).

The government confiscated all illegal books and disciplined an official involved.

China has launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on unauthorized publications, publishing "irregularities" and the names of bogus journalists in order to "maintain the credibility of the news media and to safeguard the public interest".

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2007)