A man suspected of organizing illegal blood donations and another involved in making false identity cards for "professional" donors in Jieyang in South China's Guangdong Province have been apprehended, local police said yesterday.

A third gang boss, who is said to be on the run, is also being sought.

Investigations are continuing and five blood donors are ready to give evidence, police said.

The health department of the Guangdong provincial government confirmed on Saturday that gangs in the area have been profiting from illegally organizing people to sell blood.

It said the local government had taken "immediate and effective" action to crack down on the practice and had been carrying out a thorough investigation of blood collection at the city's central collection point.

Investigations have shown that the "donors" sell blood under false names, the department said. Local health authorities began their investigations on Wednesday after the media disclosed that gang leaders were recruiting desperate migrants from Jiangxi, Anhui and other provinces and sending them to Jieyang to sell their blood.

At blood collection points, donors are paid about 200 yuan ($26) to cover traveling and other expenses.

One of the donors told the Beijing Evening News that gang bosses took a commission of 80 yuan ($10.35) from each payment, and that they could earn between 4,000 and 30,000 yuan ($517 and $3,890) a month.

The reports said that with the help of medicines some people were making up to 10 donations a month, which contravenes a law introduced in 1998 that forbids people from giving blood more than once every six months.

Source: China Daily