Britain police crack people smuggling ring

By Cui Jia (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-06-10 23:00

The Chinese leaders of Britain's biggest human trafficking gang have been convicted of smuggling hundreds of Chinese nationals into the UK, according to London-based Sky News.

Yu Chen, the gang's leader and his deputy, Inan Taskin, were both jailed for 10 years.

A third alleged ringleader, Zheng Xun, jumped bail after his arrest and is on the run.

The gang, which included Turkish, Chinese and British men, made millions of pounds out of the people-smuggling operation. Six gang members have already been jailed and five will be sentenced later.

The gang charged each Chinese 21,000 pounds ($34,000).

"The network was run like a business, with each member having a role, either planning, organizing safe houses, driving or looking after the money and making sure everyone got paid," Det Chief Insp Matt Parkes, of the Metropolitan Police told Sky News.

Guo Bing, from Shanxi province, was among stowaways smuggled into the country. He was arrested after being found with three others behind the driver's seat of a lorry that arrived by ferry at Dover. Guo said he spent 15 months hidden in a series of boats, cars and trucks that carried him first to Thailand, then Africa and finally Europe.

"They (the gang members) were involved not through altruism, humanitarianism, kindness or through political motives, but simply for the profits they could make from these human commodities of sadness and despair," said prosecutor Ken Millett.

Intercepted stowaways were handed over to the UK Border Agency. Most were not immediately deported because there was no proof they were Chinese.

"To speed up the return of illegal immigrants, we are working closely with the Chinese government to improve re-documentation and already we are seeing results," said a Border Agency spokesman.

The Chinese Embassy in the UK declined to comment on the case.

Many trafficked Chinese are made to work in sweatshops and restaurants in slave-like conditions to pay off debts to smugglers. Chinese women and children are often trafficked for sexual exploitation.

"The governments should inflict severe punishments on the human traffickers," said Jiang Feng, a spokesperson with the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in Beijing.

Jiang said poor rural residents often lack legal knowledge and are prone to victimization and he called on the government to educate and protect them.

The number of illegal Chinese immigrants deported back to China has almost doubled since last November, according to Beijing General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection. The financial crisis may be the reason why receiving countries are clamping down on illegal migrants. The number of foreign nationals trying to enter China illegally has also increased.