Chinese police have closed down more than 500 organizations engaged in illegal entry and exit businesses in over 100 separate cases, the Ministry of Public Security announced on Monday.

The illegal agencies provided services to people who wanted to study or work abroad.

During the campaign, the police confiscated about 2 million yuan (US$ 241,000) and retrieved 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million) in lost funds, according to sources.

"These illicit organizations, driven by high profits, help people go abroad by fabricating or reselling documents, which has seriously undermined exit and entry management," said Han Yusheng, deputy director of the ministry's Exit-Entry Administration.

China's total exit-entry numbers jumped 30.8 percent in the first half of 2004 from the same period last year, hitting a record 129 million, according to the administration.

Local customs offices have caught approximately 35,200 violators of China's exit-entry laws and regulations, including 2,988 illegal exit-and-entry cases during the first six months of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2004)