The Judiciary Police (PJ), in conjunction with the Macau Customs Service (SA), busted on Friday evening a people-smuggling gang using a fishing vessel to carry a mainland woman illegally into Macau via the Inner Harbour, PJ spokesman Chong Kam Leong told reporters after inviting the media to witness the joint operation in the wee hours of Saturday.
According to a tip-off that the Judiciary Police had received recently, the gang, which was believed to have been operating for about a month, was preparing to help a mainlander enter Macau illegally on Friday, so both PJ and customs officers set up surveillance at No. 22 Pier in the Inner Harbour, where they saw a mainland-registered fishing vessel sailing along the shore and finally berthing at the pier at about 10 p.m. on that day, according to Chong.
After the vessel was berthed at the pier, Chong said, a man came ashore to confirm that it had not been discovered by the authorities. Chong added that the man then escorted a 43-year-old woman, who was aboard, ashore and took her to a nearby hotel.
Chong said that PJ officers arrested the man when he was about to return to the vessel, where they found the man’s accomplice on board.
Chong said that the two mainland suspects, who are the alleged kingpin and suspected member of the gang, are surnamed Lin and Tai respectively, adding that the former, aged 51, was the vessel’s skipper, while the latter, aged 32, was its pilot.
According to Chong, the illegal immigrant from the mainland had been banned from entering Macau.
Chong did not elaborate on when the woman had been banned.
Under questioning, Chong said, the illegal immigrant admitted that she had paid 40,000 yuan to the gang to help her enter Macau.
Lin and Tai were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Saturday, while the illegal immigrant was transferred to the Public Security Police’s (PSP) Immigration Department, Chong noted.
People smugglers are known as “snakeheads” in the local Cantonese jargon.
One of the two suspected “snakeheads” from the mainland is escorted by two Judiciary Police (PJ) officers and a Macau Customs Service (SA) officer on Saturday on a fishing vessel berthed in the Inner Harbour.
– Photo courtesy of TDM
