A total of 121 South Asian illegal immigrants and 30 smugglers have been caught in a joint police operation targeting people-smuggling syndicates that have been secretly funneling illegal immigrants into Hong Kong via South China's Guangdong Province.

Between the operation's start on March 17 and noon on Sunday, Guangdong police caught 18 smugglers and 89 illegal immigrants, while their counterparts in Hong Kong caught 12 smugglers and 32 illegal immigrants. The smuggling group, headed by a Hong Kong citizen of South Asian descent, has been illegally recruiting people from South Asia and inciting them to sneak into Hong Kong via neighboring Shenzhen, the politics and law committee of Guangdong said on its Sina Weibo account on Monday.

Citing statements by Hong Kong police, news site people.com.cn reported that most stowaways are not international refugees but are rather people who attempt to work in the region illegally or illegally prolong their stay for economic purposes. During the operation, 29 suspected illegal workers and their employers were also caught by the immigration department of Hong Kong, while another 36 were detained in Guangdong.

Illegal immigrants usually enter China at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, before taking a train to Shenzhen, where they board boats or climb over wire border fences to enter Hong Kong, according to the committee.

Earlier in February, two foreign stowaways were arrested by a team of Guangdong border defense police as they tried to break through the fence to enter Hong Kong in the third bust by that team alone, Legal Daily reported. Citing local police, the newspaper added that stowaways often aim to work illegally in Hong Kong or attempt to sneak into a third country or region through Hong Kong.

Guangdong and its neighboring regions are seen as goldmines by many illegal entrants, a female stowaway from Southeast Asia who was one of the illegal immigrants arrested in Guangdong was quoted as saying by the Legal Daily.

Zhu Lieyu, a national legislator who proposed a bill to strengthen a crackdown on illegal entry, told the Global Times that inadequate punishment of illegal entry and exit could worsen smuggling.

Under China's Criminal Law, ringleaders of people-smuggling groups and repeat or serious offenders can be sentenced to as much as life in prison under serious circumstances, while illegal entrants can be sentenced to up to one year in prison.

Under additional laws and regulations, those who cross China's border without undergoing inspection can be subjected to 10 days of administrative detention and fined up to 10,000 yuan. Usually a lesser punishment can be applied for those who illegally cross the border in order to visit family, farm or seek a livelihood.