Chinese border police thwarted 2,422 people from trying to cross the country's borders illegally last year, detaining 475 on suspicion of human trafficking, the government said.

 

Police also arrested 4,777 others on suspicion of cross-border drug trafficking. Nearly 4,000 kilograms of drugs were confiscated, according to officials with the Ministry of Public Security.

 

"A severe crackdown on stowaways, smuggling and the trafficking of drugs and guns last year effectively ensured stability in the coastal regions and along the borders," the ministry said in a press release.

 

The smuggling cases exposed by border police last year involved 230 million yuan (US$29.5 million) and 1,167 guns were stopped from being trafficked into the country, the police said.

 

Cai Anji, a senior official with the ministry, said the progress in border control last year was "praised by both senior state leaders and ordinary citizens."

 

Since the 1990s, the number of stowaways being shipped from China's southeastern areas to developed countries has grown. Many fatalities have been caused by accidents at sea, according to the ministry.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2007)