BEIJING, March 28 -- A former official and a businessman, suspected of bribery, were taken back to China Saturday after about three months of exile in Laos, the Ministry of Public Security announced.

Pang Shunxi, a former tax official of Tianjin Municipality, was suspected of accepting bribes while An Huimin, former general manager of a trade company in Tianjin, was suspected of bribing, said a ministry statement.

They fled to Laos after prosecutors started investigating them in December last year.

The two turned themselves in recently to the Chinese embassy in Laos, the statement said.

The ministry urged all fugitives abroad to follow suit and seek leniency through voluntary surrender.

On Thursday, China announced that it will launch an operation code named "Skynet" in April, pooling the resources from several government and Party departments to hunt corrupt officials who fled abroad.