The apprehension of Air China passengers trying to sneak into Canada led authorities to a smuggling ring at Beijing’s airport.
Ouyang Hongliang, Caijing 13 February 2009
Four employees at Beijing’s international airport conspired with Hong Kong snakeheads to successfully smuggle 13 mainland Chinese into Canada over the past two years, according to prosecutors at a Beijing trial.
The Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) employees, including bus drivers and a security guard, each face years in prison in connection with a 500,000 yuan per head smuggling operation that saw a 50 percent success rate.
Prosecutors accused the defendants of trying to smuggle 26 Chinese nationals into Canada in eight separate incidents, succeeding four times for a total of 13 illegal immigrants, between February 2006 and December 2007.
The operation came to light after four would-be illegal immigrants from Fujian Province were caught on an Air China flight to Vancouver in December, 2007. Beijing Border Control officials had randomly selected the flight for an on-board inspection.
At the trial, airport worker organizer Zhou Zhuang told the court that Hong Kong snakeheads paid the Beijing group several hundred thousands of yuan for each person successfully smuggled. Zhou received a 40,000 yuan cut, while others split the rest.
The four on trial are among 12 airport employees allegedly involved in the trafficking ring. They worked for an airline and other groups including Air China, the Beijing General Station of Exit and Entry Border Inspection, Air China Cargo Co. Ltd., and BCIA Security Group.
Each of the four, Vancouver-bound travellers paid 500,000 yuan and were led to Beijing by an anonymous snakehead three days before boarding the plane, prosecutors said.
The smugglers and two airport contacts recruited two Air China Cargo bus drivers -- one to bring the four to the airport tarmac, and the other to help the smugglers in case of emergency.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said, snakehead Zheng Deduan hired four Singaporeans to buy tickets to Canada and pass through security. The Singaporeans rode an airport shuttle to the tarmac and switched places with the Chinese, who had arrived at about the same time.
Two BCIA security employees were responsible for watching for inspectors and warning the smugglers, the prosecution said.
According to the prosecution, the 13-member group first got involved in smuggling people with fake passports through the airport’s internal passageways. But after they were caught by airport managers, the passages were closed.
“It’s difficult to smuggle people through normal passageways, but the internal passageways provided a loophole,” a Beijing border control official told Caijing. “There were several passages serving different departments at the airport that allowed entries and exits.
After the passageways were blocked, the group changed strategy by asking migrant hopefuls to buy domestic flight tickets and then, with inside help, board international flights.
The group tried a new strategy after December 2007 by having foreigners buy international flight tickets that could be swapped at the end of the check-in process.
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Trial Exposes Trafficking at Beijing Airport
The apprehension of Air China passengers trying to sneak into Canada led authorities to a smuggling ring at Beijing’s airport.
Ouyang Hongliang, Caijing
13 February 2009
Four employees at Beijing’s international airport conspired with Hong Kong snakeheads to successfully smuggle 13 mainland Chinese into Canada over the past two years, according to prosecutors at a Beijing trial.
The Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) employees, including bus drivers and a security guard, each face years in prison in connection with a 500,000 yuan per head smuggling operation that saw a 50 percent success rate.
Prosecutors accused the defendants of trying to smuggle 26 Chinese nationals into Canada in eight separate incidents, succeeding four times for a total of 13 illegal immigrants, between February 2006 and December 2007.
The operation came to light after four would-be illegal immigrants from Fujian Province were caught on an Air China flight to Vancouver in December, 2007. Beijing Border Control officials had randomly selected the flight for an on-board inspection.
At the trial, airport worker organizer Zhou Zhuang told the court that Hong Kong snakeheads paid the Beijing group several hundred thousands of yuan for each person successfully smuggled. Zhou received a 40,000 yuan cut, while others split the rest.
The four on trial are among 12 airport employees allegedly involved in the trafficking ring. They worked for an airline and other groups including Air China, the Beijing General Station of Exit and Entry Border Inspection, Air China Cargo Co. Ltd., and BCIA Security Group.
Each of the four, Vancouver-bound travellers paid 500,000 yuan and were led to Beijing by an anonymous snakehead three days before boarding the plane, prosecutors said.
The smugglers and two airport contacts recruited two Air China Cargo bus drivers -- one to bring the four to the airport tarmac, and the other to help the smugglers in case of emergency.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said, snakehead Zheng Deduan hired four Singaporeans to buy tickets to Canada and pass through security. The Singaporeans rode an airport shuttle to the tarmac and switched places with the Chinese, who had arrived at about the same time.
Two BCIA security employees were responsible for watching for inspectors and warning the smugglers, the prosecution said.
According to the prosecution, the 13-member group first got involved in smuggling people with fake passports through the airport’s internal passageways. But after they were caught by airport managers, the passages were closed.
“It’s difficult to smuggle people through normal passageways, but the internal passageways provided a loophole,” a Beijing border control official told Caijing. “There were several passages serving different departments at the airport that allowed entries and exits.
After the passageways were blocked, the group changed strategy by asking migrant hopefuls to buy domestic flight tickets and then, with inside help, board international flights.
The group tried a new strategy after December 2007 by having foreigners buy international flight tickets that could be swapped at the end of the check-in process.
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