Six snakeheads and eight illegal immigrants were arrested on Saturday during a joint operation between the Judiciary Police (PJ), Public Security Police (PSP), Macau Customs Service (SA) and the Guangdong Public Security Bureau with four individuals being apprehended in Macau, PJ spokesman Ho Wai Lok said during a special press conference yesterday.
People smugglers are called “snakeheads” in the local Cantonese jargon.
The four suspected snakeheads arrested in Macau comprise a local couple and two men from the mainland. The husband, surnamed Lei, aged 40, told the police he’s jobless, while the wife, surnamed Mui aged 33, is a saleswoman. The mainland duo are surnamed Xiong and Wei. Xiong, aged 40, told the police that he’s self-employed, while Wei, aged 46, said that he’s unemployed.
The eight illegal immigrants, comprising three males and five females, aged between 27 and 34, were captured during the operation. They all claimed to have come to Macau to gamble in casinos.
According to Ho, around 4 a.m. on Saturday local customs officers noticed a number of individuals attempting to illegally enter Macau by walking and climbing over the fence at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) checkpoint. The customs officers arrested five illegal immigrants at the scene, while the others managed to escape. The local customs officers promptly contacted the mainland and local police.
The local police identified Lei who had taken a taxi to the vicinity of the checkpoint to pick up two of the illegal immigrants. An illegal immigrant arrived in Taipa by taxi and was met by Xiong and Wei. Li and Mei were arrested in Areia Preta later that day, while PSP officers apprehended Xiong and Wei in Taipa and Cotai respectively. Ho noted that two other snakeheads were arrested in Zhuhai by the police there.
Under questioning, Lei admitted to receiving 5,000 yuan (5,585 patacas) for picking up the illegal immigrants. Lok noted yesterday that the Judiciary Police were cooperating with the mainland authorities to investigate the whereabouts of the gang’s kingpin.
The quartet were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of aiding and abetting illegal immigration, Ho said.
The two hooded local suspects are being escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
This photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows the local snakehead couple pointing at the location where they picked up the illegal immigrants from the mainland near the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) checkpoint.
