Crackdown nets 3,000 illegal immigrants, 142 smugglers

A special operation launched in February to crack down on human trafficking has netted nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants, mostly from Southeast Asian countries, who were smuggled to Hong Kong by local traffickers.

Many of the 2,943 foreigners arrived in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and were transported to Guangdong province before being taken to Hong Kong, officials said on Wednesday. Of those, 2,860 were from Southeast Asia and the rest were from South Asia.

Police also said they had detained 142 smugglers from China and other countries, including 29 from Southeast Asia and South Asia.