Border police detained 80 foreign stowaways after a crackdown on a major illegal immigration case in Zhuhai special economic zone of Guangdong province last week, Guangzhou Daily reported.

The stowaways include 54 men and 26 women, with the youngest only 19 years old.

Police immediately launched an investigation after it was reported that a large number of foreign stowaways planned to illegally immigrate into the Pearl River Delta cities for employment on Feb 16, while an operation was launched to detain the foreign stowaways on a bus in the Zhaoqing section of the Guangdong-Kunming Expressway on the early morning on Feb 17.

Police have detained more than 200 foreign stowaways after cracking more than 30 illegal immigration cases since Lunar New Year began on Jan 31.

A large income gap for migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta region which borders Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions have made a growing number of foreigners willing to risk illegally stealing across the border to the prosperous province for employment.

Contact the writer zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn