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Friday, March 09, 2001, updated at 08:54(GMT+8)
China  

Accursed Snakeheads Failed to Get Away from Beijing

In last year's court trial of Dover deaths, kith and kin of 58 victimized and two survivors overwhelmed with tear cursed out the dirty crimes of snakeheads perpetrated worldwide, as human dregs who had organized the nasty human smuggling. Recently the UN has promulgated an international covenant striking illegal immigration as an evil global trade. Meanwhile, coupling with this worldwide fight, a crackdown was mounted on human smuggling in China and so far it has succeeded in rounding up 300 world snakeheads as a major part of the struggle against increased crimes of illegal immigration and human smuggling spreading in China and abroad.

Things with world snakeheads' dark deals have become very complicated. Based on some developed countries in Europe and America, they are in the way with wide networks built package services are provided. Human smuggling, as a dangerous yet lucrative trade, has developed as one of the world's fastest-growth cross-border crimes, with a yearly hefty profit of US$7bn, involving a population of over 200m, according to UN statistics. Smuggling organizers are mainly from the US, ROK and Europe, also Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.

As a cosmopolitan city noted for its special geographical location and busy exchanges with the outside world, Beijing has been favored by world snakeheads as a springboard. They tell stowaways to enter the country via Guangdong, Yunnan and Manzhouli, gather in Beijing to have their visas and passports changed, and head for ROK, Japan, European and American countries.

Snakeheads resort to various intricate means to help people stow away. Some help in purchasing foreigners' passports, others use their foreign citizenship to offer boarding cards after finishing airport exit formalities to elude frontier inspection, and still others, having layout of airports at their fingertips, simply serve by themselves as guides to help illegal immigrants out.

Using Beijing's convenient airlines to spirit illegal alien immigrants to Europe, America, Japan and ROK via Beijing has been on the rampancy. These alien immigrants are mainly youngsters or middle aged from the Asian and African countries poverty ridden and torn in wars. Some of them hold valid passports to enter while leave with forged passports, visas or other credentials as those of falsified from Singapore, Malaysia, Italy and Greece to their destinations. Others assume other's name by directly holding passports of destination countries.

After reform and opening up China began to show its attraction to many citizens from neighboring countries. Snakeheads caught the wind and extended their business to China, turning China into a new destination country of illegal immigration.

Though being less hated or castigated and beyond a single soul's capability as drug trafficking, human smuggling brings no less harm and fabulous profits. Snakeheads are categorically graded to form into many a varied strata going in for human smuggling. Generally speaking, a single immigrant costs some 200,000 yuan, with 120,000 of it pocketed by the biggest snakehead as net profit. Ten immigrants would bring him a sum of 1.2m yuan a year. To convince a person of his stowing away will mean 10,000 yuan by a smaller snakehead, and no difficulty for him to cheat a yearly amount of 100,000 yuan out of ten. To this end they make most of their wit to further their inhuman gains by forfeiting the lives of a great many of innocence.

Last year's Dover tragedy has helped to call on the Chinese Government on high alert. Document examination, language, vigilance and sensitiveness over foreign immigrants will put the country's inspection work to no small test, says an official in charge.



By PD Online Staff Member Li Heng



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China so far has succeeded in rounding up 300 world snakeheads as a major part of the struggle against increased crimes of illegal immigration and human smuggling spreading in China and abroad.

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