Sixty Chinese belonging to 27 families have been taken into custody on suspicion of illegally entering or staying in Japan in a swoop by immigration officers in Tokyo, Nagano, Chiba and Saitama prefectures, immigration officials said Friday.

The Tokyo Immigration Bureau said that of the 60, 34 have been detained at immigration detention facilities.

Most of the 60, who range in age from 1 to 50, hail from Heilongjiang Province, which is on the Russian border.

According to investigations, 59 of the 60 entered Japan sometime between July 1996 and September 2000, while one was born in Japan.

Thirteen had been passing themselves off as family members or relatives of war-displaced Japanese left behind in China, while 32 entered the country with fake passports, immigration officials said.

Many of the Chinese paid sums ranging from 500,000 yen to 2 million yen to brokers to obtain documents from Chinese and Japanese authorities to make it appear they were staying here legally, the officials said.

Austrian nabbed at Narita for smuggling pot

NARITA (Kyodo) A 38-year-old Austrian sculptor has been arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle about 200 grams of cannabis resin concealed in his stomach into Japan, Narita airport police and customs officials said Friday.

The officials identified the suspect as Peter Ertl.

Ertl allegedly swallowed the drugs at an apartment in Vienna and landed at Narita airport on Jan. 26. The drugs have a street value of 1.6 million yen.

The customs office conducted an X-ray check based on records that noted Ertl's alleged involvement in a 1994 drug smuggling case.

Ertl told police he planned to use the drugs during his stay.