A police raid in Jiangmen discovers a turnover of 34 million dollars. In a traffickers hideout 35 thousand false passports found; 22 arrests made. It is the largest operation of its kind carried out by Chinese police in the last 10 years. Traffickers have duped thousands of people looking for work in South America and North America.

Guangdong (AsiaNews) - Chinese police have carried out a raid and broken up a gang of human traffickers, who facilitated the illegal emigration of more than 3 thousand people for a turnover of 220 million yuan (about 34 million dollars ) according to the Guangzhou Daily.

It is the largest operation of its kind in the last ten years. According to local media, yesterday agents raided a hideout in Jiangmen, arresting 22 people and finding 35 thousand fake passports and 270 forged seals. In addition, the authorities have blocked bank accounts for a total of 11 million yuan.

According to police, the criminal organization has illegally trafficked thousands of people to the states of North and South America. More than 70% of expatriates are younger than 20 years, all in search of work. The leader of the gang, denoted with the surname Li, is specialized in the manufacture of false documents and ran a travel agency in Shenzhen, as a cover for illegal activities.

The operation is part of a war against the human traffickers that Beijing has been fighting for some time. After a tip-off, last July the police made raids in 25 different locations, also including Beijing and Shenzhen, and arrested 198 suspects.

In 2013, police in Spain and France faced down a ring of Chinese smugglers, who charged up to 50 thousand euro to reach Europe or the United States. Two years of investigation led to the arrest of 75 people.

• china
• human
• trafficking
• smugglers
• falso
• documents