Police have seized 118 million yuan (US$17 million) in fake bank notes since the start of a campaign to fight counterfeiting, China's national English language newspaper China Daily reported on Wednesday.

Liu Jinguo, vice minister of public security, was quoted in the report that police had handled 130 cases and arrested 312 people since the launch of the operation on January 20.

He said the ministry had focused its efforts on Guangdong, Henan, Anhui, Guangxi and Fujian, but also sent teams to Shenzhen and Zhuhai to work with officials from Hong Kong and Macao.

Since the end of last year, fake bank notes starting with the serial number HD90 have turned up in 10 provinces and regions. Other fake notes, with serial numbers beginning with TJ38 were also found recently in Haikou, Hainan Province, China Daily said.

Liu also told Xinhua in January when the operation began, that citizens would be encouraged to provide information on locations of fake money production. Informants could be rewarded as much as 300,000 yuan.

The campaign, called "Action 09", aims to crack down on crimes of producing, selling and spending fake notes and is to last for 10 months.

(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2009)