Beijing police have launched a one-month campaign against scalpers to ensure the sound progress of Olympic events in August, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Saturday.

On May 1, 130 police were dispatched to get hold of scalpers before a concert given by Taiwan's pop singer Jay Chou at the Beijing Workers' Stadium.

"More than 30 scalpers were found and penalized," Fu Zhenghua, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, was quoted by the paper as saying.

Some ticket companies colluded with scalpers and sold tickets of performances or sports games at low prices, which enabled the scalpers to make huge profits, the paper said.

"We hope the campaign can eradicate scalpers and ensure a normal order of the ticket market during the Olympics," Fu said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 3, 2008)