Police in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province have broken up two human smuggling gangs that sent 32 people overseas, local newspaper Life Daily reported on Thursday.

The exit-entry department under the provincial public security bureau said police spent one year and eight months investigating the gangs, according to the report.

The leader of a gang, surnamed Yan, a 55-year-old Beijing resident, organized 165 people to apply for US visas. Twenty people received visas, and 19 never returned after they left China, the report said.

The gang, which consisted of 14 members and made 1.71 million yuan ($281,970) in profits from the illegal business, received sentences ranging from two to 10 years in prison, according to the report.

Another gang with five members was received sentences ranging from two to eight years. That gang sent 13 people to Japan, none of whom have returned, according to the report. They made 1.75 million yuan from the smuggling business.

Liu Yang, head of the exit-entry administration, said that more people are being smuggled into European countries and the US using fake certificates and visas.