A group of Asians crowd the bow of a ship in the waters near Tahsis, B.C., on the west coast of Vancouver Island. (Vancouver Province-Arlen Redekop)

DENE MOORE AND SCOTT SUTHERLAND

ESQUIMALT, B.C. (CP) - More than 100 Chinese citizens, the human cargo of an apparent smuggling operation, arrived at a military base near Victoria this morning.

Some of the people aboard the three schoolbuses that brought them here from remote Gold River, B.C., smiled and clapped as they arrived. Others appeared dazed.

They were left on the buses as hectic preparations to house them continued at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt.

Crews worked overnight to build a two-metre-high fence around the large gymnasium at Work Point training facility that will become their temporary home.

The gym had been fenced on three sides.

The base bustled with activity, with RCMP and Immigration officials working out of vans in the parking lot.

"All the gym gear's been moved out and there's 125 folding camp cots that have been set up," said base Lt. Cmdr. Chris Henderson.

"There's a feeding area and a separate sitting area. And the facility has its own showers and its own toilets inside so that's a convenience." u

Many in the group of 122 were dressed in their Sunday-best suits and happily waved to reporters after they were taken from the filthy, stinking hold of the ship.

Others sat exhausted with their heads slumped to one side.

A few were in handcuffs.

"At one time there was discussion about handcuffing them all," said RCMP Insp. Brian Huddle.

"But some were more passive and docile. Obviously, some of them are handcuffed because they represent some danger, either to the escort crew or other passengers.

"There were no problems leading them off the boat. They all were very co-operative."

The passengers - 104 men and 18 women - spent about 38 days at sea without proper sanitation on the rust-pocked ship which carried no markings or other means of identification.

Henderson said the ship was out of the Chinese city of Fuzhou.

They spent all day Tuesday anchored in an isolated inlet between Gold River and Tahsis, about 300 kilometres northwest of Victoria.

It took hours for police, immigration and health officials to question the would-be immigrants and then feed them.

It took another four hours to tow the garbage-strewn ship to a port at an abandoned pulp mill along the rugged, remote west coast of Vancouver Island.

Now on land, the passengers are considered under arrest.

They'll face a long process before their hopes of immigrating to another country come true and they may never.

It could be days before they receive an immigration hearing.

"We're assuming they are people who don't have legal status," said Lois Reimer, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration. "If they don't claim refugee status . . . then we're looking at deportation."

For those who do claim refugee status, it will be months - possibly years - before their claims are resolved. Even then, it's not certain they will be successful, she said.

"We have genuine refugees from China, but it's not a given that because they're from China they're refugees."

That uncertainty is a better fate than what the passengers might have faced with the smugglers.

Cpl. Ray Legare, of Victoria RCMP customs and immigration, told the Vancouver Sun that recent investigations show illegal aliens smuggled in by boat have paid up to $40,000 for their passage.

Those who can't pay must work off their debt through indenture and slavery, Legare said.

Jim Redmond of Citizenship and Immigration called human smuggling "organized crime at its worst."

At least two people aboard the vessel attempted to make it to shore in a makeshift raft, said RCMP Cpl. Grant Learned.

But they swam into the arms of off-duty Washington state police officers who were on a fishing trip. They were turned over to RCMP and arrested.

"They were really agitated and they didn't speak any English at all," said Brian Krasko of Nanaimo, B.C., who was fishing when the pair were caught.

"All that they (the Washington fishermen) could figure out is these guys wanted a telephone," Krasko said in an interview with the Vancouver Province.

The area where the ship was discovered is characterized by sheltered, tree-lined inlets and mountainous, rugged coastline. The Pacific waters are particularly cold there.

There are a few native settlements in the area but the population is sparse. Getting around is done mostly on logging roads or by boat or airplane.

Authorities from several agencies - the coast guard, RCMP, Health Canada, Citizenship and National Defence - waited into the night for bio-hazard suits that would allow them to board the ship.

Officials were concerned the passengers may carry infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. A quarantine was considered, but only two were ill and not seriously, Learned said.

The ship was spotted early Tuesday by a Fisheries Department patrol plane and it raised suspicions because of the lack of markings, flag or name.

Redmond said organized crime is certainly involved in the smuggling operation and there are likely criminals included among the people aboard the ship.

"We don't know what kind of criminal element is on board but we do know it's not necessarily good for the country because if it was, they would apply through the legal channels."