Beijing, Feb 20: China has cracked a string of money laundering cases involving illegal foreign exchange deals that amounted to 38 million, the Financial News said today. Police and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) uncovered the activity by tracking suspicious transactions at banks in the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Heilongjiang, the newspaper said. ''A number of criminal suspects have been arrested,'' it said, adding that the cases involved a total of 38.29 million. Authorities had frozen 7.62 million yuan (USD 920,600) used for illegal forex deals and seized HK $ 5.12 million (USD 658,700), 600,000 yuan and USD 11,100, the newspaper said. China has uncovered a growing number of cross-border currency scams since launching a nationwide crackdown on illegal foreign exchange deals in the second half of 2003. Many illegal foreign exchange transactions were eased by underground money shops or illegal banks in coastal areas, state media have said. China has allowed its residents to take out more hard currency when travelling abroad to help ease upward pressure on the yuan exchange rate and fight against money laundering. Bureau Report