More than 450 travelers who had intended to sneak overseas from the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai were seized during the first 10 months of this year, immigration police said yesterday.

Some were caught at the airport, while others were arrested abroad and sent back to China.

Immigration police said a woman holding a bogus passport and visa she allegedly used to sneak abroad 10 years ago was seized at the Pudong International Airport last Thursday when she made her first trip back to the mainland, police said.

An officer noticed she spoke with a Fujian Province accent, but her passport said she was from Shandong Province.

She later confessed to buying the passport to move abroad 10 years ago. She told police this was her first trip back to the mainland since she moved to Japan in 1995. Police didn't say what punishment she received, if any.

(Shanghai Daily November 9, 2005)