Three mainlanders in Macau and four suspects in Zhuhai including the suspected kingpin and other key members were arrested early yesterday by the local and Zhuhai police respectively who had teamed up to smash a people-smuggling ring, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during yesterday’s special press conference.
A rubber dinghy used by the people smugglers was seized by local officers during the operation.
A 36-year-old suspect from the mainland surnamed Qi told the police that he is a construction worker. The other two male suspects from the mainland who illegally entered Macau are in their forties.
According to Chan, the local police were recently notified by the Zhuhai Public Security Bureau (PSB) that people-smuggling activities were expected to take place in the early hours of yesterday morning. The Judiciary Police and Macau Customs Service cooperated in the joint operation.
Macau customs officers detected an inflatable boat under Sai Van Bridge at 3:30 a.m. yesterday and immediately dispatched a vessel to intercept it. The officers arrested Qi, the boat’s skipper, and the other two mainlanders, and also seized his dinghy.
Chan said that the police later confirmed that the two mainlanders are illegal immigrants. Both confessed that they paid 10,000 yuan (11,280 patacas) and 30,000 yuan respectively to enter Macau illegally to gamble in local casinos, in order to avoid the COVID-19 quarantine measures imposed by the local and mainland authorities.
Qi told the police that he was paid 5,000 yuan by the ring for each people-smuggling trip. At about the same time early yesterday, Zhuhai Public Security Bureau officers arrested four male suspects involved in the gang.
Local police officers suspect that the gang had been in operation for about a month, Chan said, adding that the investigations into the case would continue as there were possibly more suspects involved in the gang.
Qi was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday for further investigation, facing charges of aiding and abetting illegal immigration and belonging to a criminal organisation.
This handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows PJ officers dragging the rubber boat in which two illegal immigrants are sitting.
The hooded “skipper” suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
