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Police have arrested more than 100 people after smashing a gang which smuggled illegal Chinese immigrants into Britain and Ireland using stolen and fake passports.

The detentions followed a long-running operation which began following a rise in the number of Chinese nationals caught boarding planes to the UK and Ireland from Spanish airports using falsified travel documents.

Detectives say the probe led them to an international criminal gang operating out of Spain, France, England and China.

A spokesman for Spain’s National Police said in a statement: “They captured people who wanted to leave China, promising them they could help them reach any country in exchange for an amount of money that varied according to the destination they chose and the means used.

“They tended to resort to two types of procedure, direct flights from China to Europe using stolen but authentic passports and visas or trips with stopovers where high-quality falsified documents difficult to detect at borders were used.

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“Once they were inside the Schengen Area, members of the organisation picked them up and took them to overcrowded flats which they alternated use of to avoid arousing suspicion among neighbours and police detection.

“The organisation took the travel documents they had used to travel to Spain while they were in the flats, forcing them to stay there while they falsified new documents for the trip to their final destinations.

“These falsifications were made in China and sent to Spain using courier firms. When the documentation was ready, the gang bought plane tickets in Italian travel agencies, mainly to destinations in the UK and Ireland.”

Spanish police say the organisation used Snakeheads, Chinese gangs that smuggle people to other countries, to accompany, guide and control the immigrants during the different stages of their journeys.

The spokesman said: “What really defined the organisation was, on the one hand, its dynamism and capacity to adapt to new situations which enabled it to innovate routes depending on how well they went, and on the other, the ease with they were able to obtain different types of false documents and get them to Spain in record time.”

The moment an illegal immigrant desperately banged for freedom - from the underbelly of a Megabus coach:

Police say the bosses of the organisation in Spain are among the detainees.

More than 150 falsified passports from different Far Eastern countries have been seized.

Police from several European countries including France, Italy and Britain, were involved in the operation.

In January Spanish police revealed they had smashed a human trafficking gang which smuggled dozens of Iranians into Britain after charging them thousands of pounds for fake visas and passports.

Detectives said at the time they had trafficked an estimated 50 people in just nine months.

The immigrants paid up to £11,000 for false visas stamped inside their genuine passports so they could reach Spain - and fake passports sent from Greece which they used to enter the UK.