Police on Wednesday said they have broken up a cross-border gang involved in making counterfeit IDs.

The force said they had, in collaboration with mainland authorities, arrested 10 alleged members of the syndicate, aged from 15 to 50, including their ringleader.

Officers said the ringleader – a Hongkonger who lives in Shenzhen and in his 30s – exploited his position at a telecom service provider to assist criminals in applying for real-name registration of SIM cards.

They explained that once the documents were made on the mainland, they would be mailed to the ringleader's address for further distribution.

The force added that four mainlanders aged 33 to 57 were also arrested in Shenzhen and Hunan for assisting in the production of counterfeit documents.

They also said the quality of the fake IDs produced by this gang was not very high.