Three men and two women on the Chinese mainland have been convicted of smuggling 43 women to Hong Kong and sentenced to three to 12 years in jail in a court in Shanghai.

Fifty-seven-year-old Dong Weicheng and his accomplices illegally transported 43 young women, all from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, to Hong Kong between March and October in 2004, the Shanghai Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court heard.

The gang charged each stowaway 3,200 yuan (US$400).

Some of the stowaways were captured by the Hong Kong police for prostitution, the court heard.

Dong and his two female accomplices, Bi Xiaofu and Liu Ying, were sentenced to seven to 12 years in prison for organizing the operation. They were also fined 20,000 to 100,000 yuan (US$2,500 to 12,500).

The other two men, Shi Yisheng and Wu Yongfu, were both sentenced to three years in imprisonment and fined 2,000 yuan (US$250) for fraud in obtaining exit certificates from the local authorities in Shanghai with fabricated business letters, the ruling said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2006)