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Saturday January 15 7:02 PM ET
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong customs arrested two suspected illegal immigrants from the mainland aboard a cargo vessel Saturday, less than two weeks after 25 Chinese stowaways were found in Vancouver on a ship from the territory.
The suspects, males aged 15 and 16, were the latest to be arrested four days after the government announced measures to prevent trafficking of illegal Chinese immigrants via Hong Kong.
Another two cargo stowaways, men aged 37 and 49, were arrested early morning Friday, the government information service said in a statement.
On January 4, Canadian immigration authorities in Vancouver found 25 Chinese men in two cargo containers on a ship that departed Hong Kong on December 20. The men had requested refugee status in Canada.
In Seattle, cooperation between U.S., Canadian and Hong Kong authorities helped immigration officials detect four ships carrying 63 stowaways, three of them already dead, in the past two weeks.
U.S. authorities were expecting more stowaways on the way.
Hong Kong's Customs and Excise Department said Tuesday it had entered agreements with cargo traders to adopt measures involving more vigilance and security of vessels and containers.
The department intercepted 13 illegal immigrants on land and at sea in 1999, the statement said.
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