China saw a decline in crimes in the first three months of this year, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) said on Thursday.

Data released by the SPC showed that from January to March, Chinese courts handled 270,000 criminal cases and punished 343,000 people, a year-on-year drop of 6.42 percent and 4.55 percent, respectively.

During the period, courts nationwide handled 6,437 cases related to the crimes of smuggling, trafficking, transporting and manufacturing drugs, a year-on-year decrease of 28.54 percent, indicating that the overall governance achievements against drug crimes have been further consolidated, the SPC said.

It revealed that some guidelines will be formulated and issued to help judges deal with new types of drug cases, so as to provide clearer rules and stronger legal support in the fight of drug crimes.

Given that cases of extortion by fabricating and spreading rumors and negative information through the internet have been continuously increasing in recent years, posing a serious threat to the cybersecurity, the SPC said that it has also made relevant judicial interpretations, striving to ensure justice in cyberspace and protect legitimate rights of netizens.