A Chinese woman managed to enter Japan illegally by having plastic surgery to alter her fingerprints², thus fooling immigration controls, police claim.

日本警方宣称，一名中国妇女通过整形手术改变了她的指纹，因此愚弄了入境检查机关，得以非法进入日本。

fingerprinted⁴ when they arrive in Japan" width="226" height="170" src="/upimg/091208/4_025055_1.jpg" />
All foreigners are fingerprinted when they arrive in Japan

Lin Rong, 27, had previously⁵ been deported驱逐 from Japan for overstaying居留过期 her visa. She was only discovered when she was arrested on separate charges.

Tokyo police said she had paid $15,000 (£9,000) to have the surgery in China.

It is Japan's first case of alleged⁷ biometric生物统计的 fraud, but police believe the practice may be widespread.

Japanese police suspect Chinese brokers⁸ of taking huge sums to modify fingerprints surgically⁹.

Local media reports said Ms Lin had undergone经历，遭受 surgery to swap¹⁰交换 the fingerprints from her right and left hands.

Skin patches碎片 on her thumbs and index fingers食指 were removed and then re-grafted on to the matching digits¹¹ of the opposite hand.

Japanese newspapers said police had noticed that Ms Lin's fingers had unnatural¹² scars when she was arrested last month for allegedly faking a marriage to a Japanese man.

The apparent ability of illegal migration³ networks to break through hi-tech controls suggests that other countries who fingerprint¹ visitors could be equally vulnerable易受伤害的 - not least the United States, according to BBC Asia analyst¹³ Andre Vornic.