BEIJING, Sept. 19 -- China has apprehended 18,000 suspects in over 14,000 criminal cases concerning intellectual property rights (IPR)infringement this year so far, according to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Friday.

The MPS stepped up its efforts against IPR violations in 2011, and has cleared up a total of 127,000 cases as of today.

It has uncovered and destroyed more than 1400 dens for manufacturing, marketing and distributing counterfeit products since 2013.

The MPS also briefed the public about ten recent IPR cases.

In March, a workshop manufacturing fake and poor quality sanitary napkins worth 36 million yuan (5.86 million U.S. dollars) with 8 production lines was closed by the public security departments of south China's Fujian, Sichuan, Zhejiang and Hunan Provinces.

In May, a criminal network selling fake cosmetics online, including international brands such as "L'OREAL", "DIOR" and "CHANEL" was closed down in Jiangsu province.

Police departments also acted against cross-border IPR violations with Interpol, the World Customs Organization and other countries' law enforcement offices.