BEIJING - Offenders involved in illegal fishing and sand mining along the Yangtze River will find little chance to escape from the arm of the law, as police forces along the river and customs authorities inked a cooperation agreement on Thursday.

The effort will see the Yangtze River Shipping Public Security Bureau, which is in charge of law and order along the river's primary stream, joining hands with anti-smuggling forces in customs departments. They will also join police from 11 provincial-level areas along the river, the Ministry of Public Security announced.

Three cooperation zones will be set up. Linked by the Yangtze River Shipping Public Security Bureau, they will enhance information exchanges and optimize resource allocations between the cooperation zones.

China has continued to ratchet up crackdowns on illegal fishing, illegal sand mining, and illegal pollutant emissions along the Yangtze River.

A total of 8,024 suspects were apprehended, and 427 criminal rings were dismantled amid a three-year campaign against illegal fishing on the river, which launched last June.