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A three-month nationwide hunt conducted by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and six other government entities has snared hundreds of intermediary agents illegally dealing in visas and other exit and entry services.

From March 25 to June 25, the Spring Thunder Campaign focused on intermediaries who have no authorization or funds, as well as organizations overseas that illegally conduct exit and entry services in China, said Han Yusheng, vice director of the MPS's Bureau of Exit-Entry Administration, on Monday.

During the campaign, Beijing police investigated 29 such agents in five criminal cases, resulting in 13 arrests. In eastern China's Fujian Province, police uncovered 68 illegal agents and investigated 12 criminal cases that involved a total of 1.9 million yuan (US$223,000).

During a joint operation in April, Beijing police and industrial and commercial administration officers confiscated more than 50 passports and 92 application files during a search of the Beijing Hangao Information and Consultancy Company.

Agencies and agents took advantage of people trying to go abroad, often forging documents and even colluding with snakeheads or human-smuggling groups to organize illegal emigration, said Han.

"Such activities severely disturb the orderly functioning of China's exit and entry administration," he said. "What is worse, the high fees charged by the agents have greatly infringed on applicants' legal rights."

The campaign came too late for Shanghai resident Zhang Wen, whose dream to travel to Canada remains a nightmare, even four years after she fell for a con man's pitch.

In February 2000, the then-27-year-old Zhang paid US$4,000 to the agent but got nothing in return, she told the Shanghai News Morning Post. Zhang, now the mother of a 2-year-old, sees neither hope for the promised emigration nor a refund.

Investigators found the agent she paid had no authorization to provide exit-entry services, said the report. Cases like Zhang's are far from unusual.

The ministries of foreign affairs, education, commerce, labor and social security, along with the National Tourism Administration and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, worked with the Ministry of Public Security on the Spring Thunder Campaign.