Chinese police said Thursday they had seized more than 6,600 train ticket scalpers when millions of Chinese scrambled to get trains home over the Lunar New Year holiday season.

Police had seized more than 40,000 scalped tickets, with a total face value of about 5 million yuan (730,000 US dollars) since Jan. 14 when the Ministry of Public Security launched a nationwide campaign to curb illegal ticket deals.

They had also broken up more than 700 groups involved in producing or selling fake train tickets, said the ministry.

Train tickets become hot property over the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, holiday as millions of Chinese travel to family gatherings.

Scalping triggered widespread public anger as many people failed to get tickets before the Lunar New Year's day, which fell on Jan. 26.

The Ministry of Railways estimated 188 million people would travel by train, up 8 percent from last year, in the 40-day festival peak period starting from Jan. 11.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2009)