Shenzhen police have detained a woman who allegedly ran an underground passage to help pregnant mainland women enter Hong Kong and give birth there.

The woman, 37, surnamed Shi, admitted she had arranged for 19 women to cross the border and give birth, making 12,000 yuan (US$1,500) from the illegal business.

Mainland women give birth in Hong Kong to secure Hong Kong residence for their children.

Shi, a Fujian native living in Haifu Garden in Luohu District, said she met a Hong Kong woman surnamed Zhang, who is also from Fujian, during a visit to the special administrative region in September last year.

Zhang introduced her to the lucrative business.

Shi had spent almost every afternoon issuing cards advertising the business at Shenzhen Women and Children's Hospital since she returned from Hong Kong last year and so far had given out 1,000 such cards. For each successful deal, she charged a 1,000-yuan commission.

Local police started to investigate after media reports exposed the issue last week. Police raided Shi's apartment and found more than 500 yet-to-be-issued cards as well as a notebook recording her revenue, after locating her pretending to be a potential client Saturday.

One out of every three women giving birth in public hospitals in Hong Kong this year is from the mainland, said the SAR's hospital authority. Infants are granted Hong Kong residence if the parents can provide a birth certificate from a local hospital and their own valid identity certificates, irrespective of whether or not they are Hong Kong residents.

Besides Hong Kong's favorable welfare system and strong education system, a large number of women go there to give birth to their second or third child, which is illegal on the mainland, said a lawyer in Shenzhen.

China started its family planning policy in the early 1970s. Officials estimate the policy has prevented the births of about 400 million children.

The Hong Kong government is reconsidering the regulation on residency to mend the loophole.

(Shenzhen Daily June 28, 2006)