The Beijing police detained 110 suspects on Friday for scalping Olympic tickets.

Police have found surging ticket scalping activities while patrolling around the Olympic venues, said Shi Weiping, a police officer with the Beijing Public Security Bureau. They have also received many complaints from the public.

On Friday, the police launched a big crackdown around major venues and metro exits, taking away 110 suspects and seizing 340 tickets.

One woman, surnamed Zhang, was caught selling two gym tickets with a face value of 150 yuan (22 U.S. dollars) each for 1,000 yuan each, Shi said citing an example.

In another case, a Dutch national was selling 24 tickets at a price 10 times higher than the original face value near the "Water Cube" National Aquatic Center, he said.

Investigation into the cases was going on, Shi said. The police would set up bilingual placards near the venues to warn against scalping.

Shi said law-breakers would face penalties and urged people to boycott such activities.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)