BEIJING - Chinese railway police arrested 1,106 ticket scalpers during the Spring Festival, which lasted from January 23 to February 6, and confiscated 9,822 train tickets, said a statement released by the public security bureau of the Ministry of Railways (MOR) on Monday.

Police cracked 987 ticket scalping cases and apprehended 132 gangs of ticket scalpers during the period, according to the statement.

The statement said railway police heightened their scrutiny over ticket scalping, as migrant workers and students rushing to return to work and school, respectively, left train tickets in short supply toward the end of the holiday.

Police increased patrols around ticket booths and traced booking phone calls and information related to online ticketing in order to detect scalping, it said.

For this year's Spring Festival travel rush, passengers were able to buy train tickets online or by telephone for the first time. They also had the option to queue to buy tickets directly from railway stations.