A factory in Jinan, capital city of Shandong Province, is discharging smog through the chimneys into the air. File photo: Xinhua

Chinese authorities have since 2018 investigated and punished increasing numbers of criminal cases related to environmental pollution, China's top procuratorate said on Wednesday.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said in a statement that between January 2018 and August this year, procuratorial agencies have approved the arrests of 9,517 individuals across 5,364 cases nationwide for pollution-related crimes, with those numbers respectively increasing by roughly 80 percent and 64.5 percent from the same period spanning 2015-2017.

The number of people indicted for relevant charges during the period hit 16,687, covering 7,226 cases, respectively up about 73 percent and 47.4 percent, said the SPP.

The SPP has also published four typical cases concerning procuratorial agencies' work in dealing with relevant crimes, noting that the procuratorates are taking more initiative to practice their duties in this regard.

Miao Shengming, a senior prosecutor of the SPP, said procuratorates in different regions of the country will enhance cooperation and make more joint efforts to detect relevant violations so that they can better support the country's ecological advancement.