Public order has been bettering in Macao since it returned to the motherland over two years ago, with the latest annual report for 2001 indicating the number of violence crime cases falling sharply.

Delivering the report here Tuesday, Secretary for Security Cheong Kuoc Va said that the number of criminal cases diminished 0.2 percent year on year to 8,905 in Macao last year.

"The special administrative region (SAR) government has effectively cracked down on the cases involving violence," he toldthe press. Those cases, involving murder, robbery, arson, drug trafficking, raping and kidnapping, plunged by 25.3 percent.

"Ideal results" were achieved in fighting against drug traffickers, with the cases diving 77 percent, Cheong cited.

The top security official also noted that the SAR has made a preliminary control on crime committed by young people.

A total of 2,103 illegal entries in the SAR from China's interior were registered in 2001, a drop of 26 percent from the previous year, statistics show.

Cheong said that the government will add police forces in casinos to dispose of what happens there. The Macao SAR will soon allow three companies to compete in the gambling business, breaking the existing monopoly by the Macao Tourism and Amusement Company.

Still, the SAR security departments will consolidate links withthe Guangdong and Hong Kong counterparts in sharing intelligence and taking action against crime, he said.

Official figures show that criminal cases were 3.6 percent lessin Macao in the year 2000 than in 1999.

( Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2002)