Police in southern Guangzhou city have detained five people allegedly making more than nearly 60,000 fake train tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Police confiscated 196 fake train tickets and more than 58,000 half-forged ones by computer in Baiyun District, said Yao Mai, public security head of Guangzhou Railway Station.

The suspects, who were arrested on Dec. 31 and Jan. 8, admitted they planned to counterfeit tickets worth 10 million yuan (1.2 million U.S. dollars) as tens of thousands of people want to return home for the Spring Festival holiday, Yao said Saturday.

The tickets were from Guangzhou, China's business hub in the south, to central and western provinces and cities. The crime ring sold them mostly in supermarkets or ticket outlets around downtown Guangzhou, police said.

A passenger surnamed Yuan reported to the police on Dec. 30 that he bought seven tickets to the southwestern Chongqing Municipality which turned out to be fake.

The confiscated tickets looked almost identical to the real ones in paper quality, printing, and even had anti-counterfeiting labels, police said.

Railway stations across China expects a record of 188 million passengers heading home, up eight percent year-on-year, during the 40-day Spring Festival travel peak which starts Sunday, said Wang Yongping, the Ministry of Railways spokesman.

Migrant workers and college students are the major parts in the passenger flow, he said.

Railway authorities have planned to add 319 temporary express passengers trains for the holiday rush.

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2009)