TWO men accused of trafficking fake professional licenses have been arrested for trading official documents.

Fengxian District prosecutors said one of the pair, identified as Wang Shuai, was seized with 391 fake professional licenses for electricians, welders and forklift drivers, among others.

He was found to have profited nearly 70,000 yuan (US$10,250) from selling them in several regions, such as Henan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

His illegal operation was exposed when a Shanghai firm found in April that an employee, called Li Qing, had sold fake truck drivers’ licenses to six truck drivers the firm employed.

Li said he went to seek six truck drivers from a human resources agency operated by a man called He Rui. But He introduced him to six drivers without licenses and said he could buy “authentic licenses” for them.

As the tests for truck drivers’ licenses are hard, Li agreed to buy six “licenses” from He for 850 yuan each. Li then sold them to the drivers, charging 1,200 yuan each.

Li added he was convinced the licenses were genuine until the company told him they were fake.

Investigation showed He bought the licenses from a man called Liu Donglai who bought them from Wang, who had bought them from two others, paying 150 to 200 yuan for each “license.”

Liu and Wang were both arrested this month.