NANNING - Chinese border police seized three human traffickers who tried to smuggle 42 Vietnamese to China in southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

On February 3, police in Chongzuo city were informed that two minibuses boarding large numbers of Vietnamese were trying to sneak across the border of China from Bankun Road, Pingxiang city, a border city adjacent to Vietnam, the public security frontier defense forces of Guangxi said Tuesday.

Three Chinese "snakeheads" (human traffickers) and 42 others were arrested by border police at about 11: 00 pm.

An investigation of the case is under way.

Early on Monday, border police of Guangxi said that 12 snakeheads and 81 illegal immigrants were apprehended as they attempted to reach the neighboring Guangdong province.

Local border police said that large numbers of illegal immigrants have been crossing the border to seek jobs in China since the beginning of the year.

Local frontier forces have intensified vehicles checks at frontier inspection stations to crack down on human trafficking and illegal immigration.

So far, more than 600 illegal immigrants have been seized.