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Stowaways Detained in the Northeast
The Public Security Bureau of northeastern Liaoning Province cracked down a massive human trafficking case in the port city in Dalian, which involved 82 stowaways.
All the stowaways were detained in what was reportedly the biggest human trafficking attempt to date in the province.
The provincial public security bureau was tipped on July 15 that a large human smuggling attempt was under way in Dalian, the biggest port in Northeast China. Police immediately rushed to the port and started to track down the stowaways.
On July 19, police stopped two buses carrying 82 people. Police detained all the passengers, who were mainly from the Northeast Chinese provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and East China's Shandong Province.
In another development, provincial public security departments in Southeast China's Fujian Province concluded a three-month campaign against human trafficking last week. Police arrested 109 suspects, the China News Service reported.
Most of those found guilty received severe punishment, official said.
The issue of human trafficking has been highlighted since 58 Chinese illegal immigrants were found dead in an airtight lorry container in the British port of Dover on June 19.
The deaths in Dover resulted from an international crime committed by "snakeheads'', a term for those who engage in human smuggling.
China's public security departments have strengthened efforts to stop human trafficking attempts by snakeheads along the country's coastal regions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the international community to plug loopholes that make traffic in illegal immigrants easier in certain countries.
The highest death toll caused by illegal human trafficking was in 1999, according to the Italian agency ANSA, when 170 people died when the boats they were travelling in sank in the Adriatic Sea.
Last year, more than 2,500 people died while trying to get to western Europe, according to the International Herald Tribune.
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