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2 plead guilty to smuggling immigrants Ten-year prison terms possible Thursday, March 16, 2000 By SCOTT SUNDE
Two Chinese men accused of taking part in a smuggling operation that
brought 37 illegal immigrants to North America in cargo containers pleaded
guilty yesterday in federal court in Seattle.
Yu Zheng, 35, and Sheng Ding, 29, face up to 10 years in prison.
The case marks the first successful prosecution of a scheme in which
Chinese immigrants -- paying up to $60,000 apiece -- were smuggled in to
the West Coast in containers stacked on freighters. There have been 15
such incidents in the last year, including seven this year.
It's unclear whether yesterday's developments will lead to additional
prosecutions. Zheng and Ding apparently have not cooperated with
prosecutors and did not agree to do so as part of yesterday's plea
agreement.
When they arrested the pair in January, immigration agents found
cellular telephones and pagers, from which they obtained telephone numbers
in New York and Hong Kong. But they have yet to make additional arrests,
said Donald Reno Jr., special assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle.
Zheng and Ding, themselves illegal immigrants who had been living in
New York, agreed to a plea bargain in which prosecutors dropped charges of
conspiracy and bringing Chinese nationals illegally into the United
States.
In return, the men pleaded guilty to a single count of trying to
transport illegal aliens. They are linked in court documents to one of the
12 men in the container who had a cellular telephone with which he alerted
smugglers that the ship had arrived.
The 12 were to be taken to New York City, probably by train or bus,
Reno said.
Zheng and Ding face likely deportation after they serve their
sentences, which they will receive June 2 from U.S. District Judge Barbara
Rothstein.
The defendants admitted that they knew 12 illegal immigrants were in a
container that had been loaded on the OOCL Faith cargo ship in Hong Kong
on Dec. 19.
The freighter arrived at Seattle's Terminal 18 on Jan. 2. Officials in
Hong Kong say they tipped off agents from the Immigration and
Naturalization Service about the OOCL Faith. INS agents were waiting for
the ship and found the 12 stowaways.
Ding and Zheng showed up in a rented van near the ship on Jan. 2.
Immigration agents stopped, questioned and arrested them. An investigation
turned up bills of lading for the container in which the 12 illegal
immigrants were stowed away. Agents also found a bill of lading for a
second ship, the California Jupiter. Canadian customs agents found 25
illegal immigrants in two containers on the California Jupiter on Jan. 4
in Vancouver.
Reno said the agents' stop of the defendants could have presented
problems and that helped to persuade prosecutors to seek a plea deal.
A judge might have ruled that the agents violated the men's right
against unreasonable search and seizure, Reno said. Then all the evidence
tying them to the OOCL Faith and California Jupiter would have been thrown
out.
A federal investigation continues into the 18 illegal immigrants
smuggled aboard the NYK Cape May. Three of the 18 were dead when the Cape
May arrived in Seattle on Jan. 10. They died of malnutrition and
dehydration.
The INS is referring any questions about the deaths to the U.S.
Attorney's Office in Seattle.
But Jim Lord, the federal prosecutor to whom questions have been
referred, will not say whether the deaths are still under investigation.
P-I reporter Scott Sunde can be reached at 206-448-8331 or scottsunde@seattle-pi.com
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