A 56-year-old mainland man who headed a gang was arrested on Wednesday for his connection with the four people-smuggling cases that the Judiciary Police (PJ) had busted between March and August this year, PJ spokesman Ho Chan Nam said during a special press conference yesterday.
In the four cases, according to Ho, PJ officers arrested 11 members of the gang and intercepted eight illegal immigrants who had separately paid the gang between 30,000 yuan (33,381 patacas) and 70,000 yuan for assistance to enter Macau illegally on speedboats or fishing vessels, totalling not less than 380,000 yuan.
The jobless suspect from Guangdong, surnamed Zhou, organised and helped mainlanders enter Macau illegally on several occasions, including contacting would-be illegal immigrants, visiting the coastline to “survey” the landing points, looking for suitable vessels, and soliciting gang members to pilot the “people-smuggling” vessels between the mainland and Macau, according to Ho, who pointed out that each gang member could receive 3,000 yuan after each successful trip.
Based on one of the eight illegal immigrants’ confessions, Ho said, the Judiciary Police identified Zhou as the gang’s kingpin and later discovered that he had arrived in Macau on Monday and met up with others in the vicinity of casinos in Cotai. Ho added that PJ officers arrested Zhou on Wednesday when he was about to leave Macau via the Barrier Gate border checkpoint.
Zhou, who denied committing the crimes and refused to cooperate with the police, was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing a charge of aiding and abetting illegal immigration.
The hooded people-smuggling suspect from Guangdong is escorted by police officers to a Judiciary Police (PJ) vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape after yesterday’s special press conference. – Photo: Yuki Lei
