BEIJING, Jan 15 (Reuter) - The illegal levy of exorbitant tolls along the main road into the rugged Himalayan region of Tibet is strangling traffic along China's main supply route to "the roof of the world," the Market Daily said on Monday.

"Those toll officers just want money. They extort more than 1,000 yuan ($120.48) for fun. If you can't satisfy them, they take away your goods, beat drivers or owners," the newspaper quoted one driver as saying.

The driver said he paid 3,000 yuan ($361) in highway tolls on two trips last October and November to transport vegetables into Tibet.

China launched a campaign last year to try to stamp out what is effective highway robbery along many roads, with police or local officials halting cars and demanding fees for car-washing or to enter cities.

The road tolls are scattered all along route 213 between Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan province and Lanzhou in western Gansu and route 109 from Lanzhou to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa -- the main routes that carry 80-90 percent of supplies into the mountainous land that has no rail links.

The newspaper found 15 toll stations on a 110-km (68-mile) stretch of the 4,500 km (2,790 mile) route in Sichuan with the tolls ranging from several hundred yuan to 1,000 yuan ($120.48).

These toll stations were set up by local officials of industry, commerce, taxation, quarantine stations and even by local administrative authorities, the newspaper said.

The stations check documentation, VAT payments and even the goods themselves and demand penalities if paperwork is incomplete, deputy director of the Tibet department of commerce and industry Zhanuo told the newspaper.

Last June, a driver from his bureau transported uniforms and 1,500 kg (3,300 lbs) of rice and was charged 800 yuan ($96.39) by a toll station in Gansu province after he failed to prove VAT had been paid on the rice, he said.

REUTER