Smuggling ring smashed: Eleven mainland Chinese arrested in Shenzhen on their way to Hong Kong

Eleven mainland Chinese people were intercepted at a Shenzhen bus terminus by border control officers who suspected they were about to be smuggled to Hong Kong.

The group, comprising seven men and four women with the youngest aged 17, was arrested in Fuyong in western Shenzhen by border control officers from the Guangdong paramilitary police during an ambush.

They were being handed to a suspected human smuggler in a car, mainland media reported.

The smuggler was among those arrested.

Each of the mainland Chinese in the group had reportedly paid 6,000 yuan (HK$7,280) to the smuggling ring, which had promised to bring them to Hong Kong so they could work.