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 Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2000Two Chinese migrants say they were robbedOTTAWA (CP) -- One Chinese migrant said he paid $15,000 for phoney documents and a flight to Canada.Another said he was smuggled into the country lying in a cramped cargo container of a ship that he boarded late at night. While both were seeking a better life, they're now in a Canadian detention centre -- scared, confused and isolated by a language barrier after they say a man they paid to smuggle them stole their money before deserting them in Cornwall, Ont. Fat Leung Lee, 25, and Zhi Sheng Liu, 29, left the Chinese province of Fujian separately, but now sit in a tiny jail cell at the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Detention Centre, where they'll stay at least until Feb. 17. The men were among five starving and freezing Asian migrants found last Thursday shivering in a telephone booth by a stunned shopkeeper in Glen Walter, east of Cornwall. A Korean migrant, Jae Sow, 27, is also being held at the centre. Two other boys, age 14 and 15, also from Fujian, are in the care of the Children's Aid Society. Dressed in orange jail jump suits, Lee and Liu were again detained Wednesday by an immigration judge who felt it was unlikely they would appear at their immigration hearing if they were released. "I believe you were both going to the States," said Michel Beauchamp, through an interpreter. Although both men admitted carrying American currency, they claimed to be heading to Canada to claim refugee status. "We don't know where the United States is," Liu said wearily. Lee, a businessman in China, said he travelled about 600 kilometres from his home to Hong Kong and left on a Canada-bound flight on Jan. 13. Liu said his wife, still in China, negotiated with some men to smuggle him on to a ship. He's uncertain how long he stayed in the cramped container with little food, or where the ship docked, but said he left home in November. "I know nothing about other people on the boat," Liu said, choking back tears. "I was alone. I could not move about," Liu said. After arriving in Canada, the men said they were picked up separately and brought to Cornwall. The same man paid to smuggle them then robbed them and abandoned them in -31C weather. "He took everything out of my pockets," Lee said, breaking down in tears. Lee had about $200 US and Liu had $300 US. Lee said for two days they didn't sleep but found shelter in a building. "We found some corner of a house or building and would sit there for a while," Lee said. "We built a fire to keep ourselves warm," Liu added. (Ottawa Sun)
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