Southern province detains 1,800 foreigners for entering country illegally last year
Border-control police in South China’s Guangdong province detained more than 1,800 foreigners for entering the country illegally last year, a 190-percent increase compared with 2015, according to officials at the provincial border-control department.
The total number of people detained for illegally entering or exiting the country was 2,571, an increase of 99.3 percent year-on-year, which involved 337 cases, officials said.
Among them, 192 cases involved 1,879 foreigners illegally entering China.
The department also cracked 10 “exceptionally serious” organized human smuggling cases and uncovered 16 human smuggling gangs last year.
In one case, more than 120 illegal immigrants from South Asia and 30 organizers were detained in an joint crackdown operation by Guangdong and Hong Kong public security departments. It marked the cracking of a huge criminal group that had long been transferring South Asian people illegally to Hong Kong through Guangdong.
“Guangdong police stepped up efforts last year to prevent and combat terrorism, illegal immigration, drug making and smuggling, and other types of criminal activities. The efforts have effectively ensured the safety and stability of the province’s coastal areas,” said Li Chunsheng, vice-governor of Guangdong and head of the province’s Public Security Department.
The efforts also helped relieve the anti-human smuggling burden for Hong Kong police, whose repatriation rate in 2016 declined 58.3 percent on a yearly basis.
“This year, we will continue to crack down on criminal activities to safeguard national security and border stability to create a safe and stable social environment,” said Chen Huixi, head of Guangdong’s border-control department.
Last year, 9,749 people were detained by Guangdong police. More than 360 drug-related cases were cracked, while nearly 4 metric tons of drugs were seized and 474 suspects were detained.