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Tuesday January 4 8:56 AM ET
VANCOUVER (CP) - Twenty-five Chinese men have been found hiding in containers aboard a freighter docked in Vancouver, Immigration authorities confirmed early Tuesday. Immigration officials began searching the California Jupiter on Monday after a tip from Chinese and American authorities.
The 25 men were discovered in two containers.
Immigration spokesman Rob Johnson says all the men are healthy and want to stay in Canada. He says they left Hong Kong on Dec. 20 and were apparently headed for Seattle, the ship's next scheduled port.
Another ship arrived in Seattle on Monday, carrying 12 Chinese men. Another 18 stowaways wee found on a ship at Long Beach, Calif., on Sunday.
"This is nothing close to what we saw this summer," said Johnston, alluding to the arrival of four ships off B.C.'s shore last summer carrying almost 600 illegal Chinese immigrants. Most of them have claimed refugee status.
One claim has been accepted and six people have been deported.
RCMP Cpl. Grant Learned said the police investigation involves an increasingly complex world-wide problem of people smuggling.
"Our purpose here from the RCMP's perspective is to look for evidence and to look for any information that will assist in the global investigations that are ongoing, not only here but in the United States and elsewhere," Learned said.
Customs and immigration officials boarded the ship in Vancouver on Sunday night but apparently found nothing.
Victor Wong, a spokesman for many of the migrants who landed on B.C.'s shores last summer, said officials should have done a thorough enough search to ensure the safety of any stowaways.
"Because if people are on board in a container and they're at some level of risk, you should go and look for those people," Wong said.
"It's just for the safety of the people who may be there."
Immigration and Naturalization Service officials were alerted to the Seattle scheme by the agency's Hong Kong office on Dec. 30.
The 12 men arrived on Harbour Island on Sunday aboard the ship OOCL Faith - owned by Orient Overseas Container Line of Hong Kong. They were found inside a container, where they had been since Dec. 18, said INS spokeswoman Irene Mortensen.
All were being detained at the INS centre in Seattle, where they will be interviewed and likely deported to China.
Meanwhile, in Long Beach, Calif., the stowaways were found Sunday by crew members of the Zim Shekou as it was coming into port, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Billy Davidson. The ship had docked in B.C. before reaching California. © The Canadian Press, 2000
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