The Judiciary Police (PJ) busted two human smugglers from the mainland on Wednesday for helping their compatriots enter Macau illegally by “swimming”, PJ spokesman Chong Kam Leong said during a special press conference yesterday, believing that the duo are suspected members of a people-smuggling gang, who provided illegal immigrants with a change of clothes and rented hotel guestrooms for them to stay.
In addition, the Macau Customs Service (SA), in collaboration with the Public Security Police (PSP), arrested three illegal immigrants aged between 38 and 45 separately in Avenida dos Jogos da Ásia Oriental in Taipa and at a casino-hotel resort in Cotai in the wee hours of Wednesday for using underwater propulsion vehicles (aka underwater scooters) to “swim” to Macau illegally, according to Chong, who added that the trio who have been banned from entering Macau crossed the border illegally planning to engage in illegal currency exchange activities in the city.
Chong said that the two male suspects, surnamed Wu and Chen, are both aged 38.
During the investigation at the hotel, PSP officers arrested also Wu, and handed him to the Judiciary Police for follow up, Chong said, adding that PJ officers arrested Chen and two other illegal immigrants, who worked as illegal currency exchange dealers in Macau, at a residential flat in Taipa later that day.
The five illegal immigrants are males from the mainland.
Under questioning, both Wu and Chen admitted that they had received 180 yuan from each illegal immigrant to assist them in committing the crime, but both refused to reveal further details about the case, Chong said.
Wu and Chen were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of organised crime and aiding and abetting illegal immigrants, according to Chong.
Meanwhile, one of the two illegal currency exchange dealers has also been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office, facing a false identity declaration charge.
Evidence seized from the two suspected human smugglers and three illegal immigrants from the mainland such as mobile phones and three underwater scooters is displayed during yesterday’s special press conference hosted by Judiciary Police spokesman Chong Kam Leong (second from right) and unidentified PJ, Public Security Police (PSP) and Macau Customs Service (SA) officers at the PJ headquarters in Zape. – Photo: Yuki Lei
