Eight suspects and five suspects were arrested on Sunday in Macau and Zhuhai respectively for alleged people smuggling using speedboats to carry mainlanders illegally in and out of Zhuhai and Macau, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference yesterday.
The eight suspects caught in Macau include two men, a 34-year-old jobless overstayer surnamed Duan from the mainland and a 31-year-old local casino worker surnamed Un, as well as a 65-year-old female jobless illegal immigrant surnamed Ai from the mainland. The trio are alleged members of a people-smuggling gang. Three others caught by the local police are illegal immigrants who arrived together in Macau by speedboat arranged by the gang. Two illegal immigrants were arrested at Duan’s flat.
According to Chan, the local police recently exchanged intelligence with the mainland’s Public Security Bureau (PSB) that a people-smuggling gang was using speedboats to transport mainlanders illegally between Zhuhai and Macau during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joint operation
The Judiciary Police, Macau Customs Service and the Zhuhai Public Security Bureau (PSB) cooperated in the joint operation. PJ officers put Duan under surveillance on Saturday night and followed him to Estrada de Nossa Senhora de Ká Hó near Ká Hó Lighthouse in Coloane. The officers discovered a speedboat carrying three illegal immigrants at the nearby waterfront. When Duan met the three illegal immigrants after they landed ashore, PJ officers arrested them. At the same time, Customs officers chased after the speedboat. However, the vessel was driven in a dangerous manner and managed to get away.
Meanwhile, Zhuhai police officers also took action at the weekend and arrested five suspected members of the smuggling gang, all of them males aged 30 to 51, including the alleged kingpin and the skipper who had escaped from Macau. According to the investigation, the gang had been operating its people-smuggling business for nearly a month and charged 22,000 yuan (25,100 patacas) to 30,000 yuan for each person smuggled.
Illegal Inn
PJ officers identified Un whose job it was to pick up illegal immigrants in a vehicle and arrested him in Taipa on Sunday. The officers who went to Duan’s flat later that day in Avenida Dr. Sun Yat Sen in Taipa discovered that it was an illegal inn. The officers arrested three illegal immigrants and Ai in the flat. The two illegal immigrants confessed that they entered Macau clandestinely to avoid the epidemic prevention measures of the two neighbouring cities so that they could gamble in local casinos. Ai allegedly ran the illegal inn which provided beds for illegal immigrants for a daily fee of 50 yuan to 60 yuan. The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has been notified by the police to investigate the illegal accommodation business.
The three suspects were 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.
The five illegal immigrants are slated to be returned to the mainland.
Three suspected people-smuggling gang members are escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
This pixelated handout photo provided by Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows the four suspects comprising three illegal immigrants and a suspected people-smuggling gang member being escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers at the crime scene in Estrada de Nossa Senhora de Ká Hó in Coloane near the Ká Hó Lighthouse early Sunday.
