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14 more charged with alien alien smuggling
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Posted on Jun 22 1999
Fourteen more suspected alien smugglers have been charged at the federal court in connection with attempts to bring hundreds of undocumented aliens into Guam last May.
Federal Court Judge Alex Munson issued yesterday the warrants of arrest for the 14 crew members of separate vessels that allegedly ferried aliens from China’s Fujian province.
The new case filed by the US Attorney’s Office has brought to 30 the total number of Chinese nationals facing charges of attempted alien smuggling at the US District Court on Saipan.
Investigations conducted by US immigration special agent Timothy Isenhart revealed that each of the undocumented migrants paid the crew men 15,000 Chinese RMB in exchange for their trip to Guam, where they had hoped to get asylum.
The Chinese boats were, however, intercepted by the US Coast Guard and the passengers were sent to Tinian instead.
Isenhart’s interview with the migrants also revealed that “as many as 15 of them had been severely beaten by the enforcers while en route to Guam.”
Insenhart said the crew men beat their victims into calling their families back home to ask for more payments.
Those charged were Gui Rui Shi, Kui He, Zi Di He, Liang Gao, Jian Hui Xue, Jin Hui Xue, Peng Shi, Xing Gao, Xin Jin He, Er Jin Xue, Yi Zhou Xiao, Zu Hui Weng, Ming Li, and Gui Zhu Li.
The federal court last week granted the US Attorney’s motion seeking the “arrest and detention” of at least 13 of the smuggled aliens who would serve as material witnesses in the criminal proceedings against the suspected alien smugglers charged earlier. The trial begins on Aug. 9.
