(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-16 16:13

GUANGZHOU -- Police caught six foreign stowaways and the person who had arranged their passage while trying to sneak into China's southern Guangdong Province from Macao, the local authority confirmed on Sunday.

The six stowaways, three from Sri Lanka and the others from Bangladesh, were arrested along with the "snakehead," the people trafficker, as they were trying to reach Zhuhai City, which borders Macao, in a rowboat last week, according to Guangdong police.

The investigation showed each stowaway paid 200 yuan ($28) to the snakehead who promised to help them find a job on the Chinese mainland.

The men said they failed to find a job after they had been illegally transported to Macao days before. They then decided to go to the Chinese mainland to try their luck.