The China Daily reported on Thursday that police, with the aid of the Japanese coast guard, had arrested 42 people from the ring, including the gang's alleged leader, Chen Wenshu.

The paper said the ring had shipped about 730 illegal immigrants into Japan in the last two years.

Those detained included a number of shipping company heads whom the paper said were seduced by the economic rewards of helping the smugglers.

Investigation continuing

The China Daily said the smuggling ring was formed in 1998 by Mr Chen, and was discovered in November 2000 after a group of 17 stowaways on a Chinese ship were found by Japanese coast guards.

It said all those smuggled by the operation came from the south eastern province of Fujian, which has a history of people smuggling.

Investigations are continuing and no trial date has been set, the paper said.

Human smuggling from China hit Western headlines in June 2000 when 58 people from Fujian were found suffocated in a truck at the British port of Dover.

The two survivors told a court that they paid "snakeheads" - as people smugglers are known in China - $20,000 each to help them reach the West, where they hoped for a better life.