Chinese police have closed down more than 500 organizations engaged in illegal entry and exit businesses and cracked more than 100 related cases, according to the Ministry of Public Security on Monday.

The illegal agencies helped people who wanted to live abroad, study at their own expenses or obtain employment.

During the campaign, the police confiscated about 2 million yuan (some 240,960 US dollars) and retrieved 30 million yuan of losses, according to sources.

"These illicit organizations, driven by high profits, help people go abroad by fabricating or reselling fake documents, which has seriously undermined the exit and entry management," said Han Yusheng, deputy director of the Exit-Entry Administration

China's total exit-entry numbers rose 30.78 percent in the first half of 2004 from the same period of last year, hitting a record of 129 million, according to figures provided by the Exit-Entry Administration of the ministry.

Local customs offices caught approximately 35,200 violators of China's exit-entry laws and regulations, including 2,988 illegal exit-and-entry cases during the first six months of this year, official figures show.

Source: Xinhua