China's novice locksmiths are to be trained under police surveillance in order to stop their professional knowledge leaking to burglars.

The rule comes in a new circular ordering police authorities to strengthen their supervision of locksmiths and to establish a national locksmith database.

The Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce ordered police and commerce authorities to conduct a survey of the country's locksmiths and to close down illegal and unlicensed companies.

Police would closely investigate "the unlawful activities arising from the poor management of the locksmith industry".

The crackdown comes after a series of thefts in which locksmiths had either colluded with burglars or burgled premises themselves, including a case in Shaanxi Province where a criminal confessed to stealing cash from a logistics firm after locksmith training in Henan Province.

Industry and commerce authorities have been instructed to educate locksmiths and help improve their operating procedures.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2007)