BEIJING -- Judicial cooperation across the Taiwan Strait has progressed smoothly and benefited people on both sides, a mainland spokeswoman said here Wednesday.

Since the two sides signed an agreement on judicial cooperation and jointly combating crime in 2009, police across the Strait have jointly busted several hundred phone fraud rings and detained more than 3,000 criminal suspects, Fan Liqing, spokeswoman with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a regular press conference here.

Last year the two sides achieved notable progress in fighting cross-border phone fraud, with about 1,600 suspects detained in cases involving 330 million yuan (52.38 million U.S. dollars), Fan said, adding that cross-Strait efforts led to a nearly 50-percent reduction in phone fraud incidences in some provinces and cities on the mainland.

Police from both sides also joined hands in fighting drug trafficking, resulting in the seizure of more than 1,400 kg of drugs in the mainland, she said.

Over the past three years, the mainland handed over 168 suspects wanted by Taiwanese police and Taiwan returned two, Fan said.

Moreover, the mainland transferred six seriously ill Taiwanese inmates to the island, she said.

In the past three years, judicial departments from both sides exchanged more than 20,000 documents and pieces of evidence, she said.

When commenting on the problem that some Taiwanese convicts fled to the mainland to escape penalty, Fan said the mainland has been committed to its duties and liabilities in the agreement and will not tolerate any crimes.