Two missing Chinese tourists caught

The two Chinese tourists who were reported missing after failing to leave Saipan on their scheduled date of departure were caught Sunday night and are now being held at the Immigration detention facility.

According to Century Tours manager Henry Pun, information on the whereabouts of 48-year-old Yang Wei and 43-year-old Tang Wenliang was received Sunday morning through a tipster. The two were arrested in San Antonio at a house being rented out to Chinese workers.

“Someone called us so we called Immigration and the investigators brought us there and we checked the place in the day time,” Pun said during an interview yesterday. “We went back there [at night] and they were arrested.”

Yang and Tang arrived on Saipan on Jan. 26 and were scheduled to leave on Jan. 28.

Pun said the two denied staying on Saipan illegally, saying their visas were good for three months.

“They pretended that they don’t know anything,” Pun said. “They told us that their visa is good for three months…but that’s not true. The visa is only good for three days.”

Pun said it seemed like the two were working for a construction company. He did not identify the company.

“I saw the safety hat in the room, so that means they started working already,” he said. “According to the person who provided us the information, somebody would pick up the [two individuals] for work every morning.”

Pun said the money that the two paid as security deposit before leaving China will not be returned to them. The amount is a little less than $4,000.

“I don’t think they’ll get their money back,” he said. “They paid to guarantee their return on time,” he said. “It clearly shows they had the intention to stay. Obviously…someone picked them up [at the airport] and then they have a place to stay, and also…were working already.”

Pun said he does not know when the two would be deported.

“That depends on the [Attorney General’s Office] and Immigration,” he said. “They will let us know.”

Comment from the AGO and Immigration could not be immediately obtained yesterday.

Pun said he was happy with the efforts expended to apprehend the two.

“By posting out all the notices and putting the rewards, and getting help from the Chinese community…those really helped,” he said. “The reward played a big role in catching them, and like I said before, they have no place to hide in Saipan. They just moved in recently, so the people know right away. [The Chinese community is] so small that if there’s a stranger, they can tell and that’s what happened.”

Pun said the tipster would be paid $1,000—$500 per person apprehended. The reward was to be paid yesterday.

Pun also urged the government to go after those who illegally employed these individuals to prevent similar situations from happening again.

“It’s a kind of illegal employment,” he said. “In order for the government to stop these kind of things from happening again, they should find out who is the employer and maybe charge them a penalty or maybe punish them. It will help stop these kind of things.”

The situation was the first experienced by Century Tours, but Pun said it has happened before with other agencies.

Pun said the tour agency would implement measures that would prevent the situation from happening again.

“I strongly believe these two persons are traveling in what we call FIT package,” he said. “We don’t have a tour leader accompanying them, so in the future, maybe we’ll increase our tour leaders…the FIT group will have their own.