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Thursday May 25 8:02 PM ET
VANCOUVER (CP) - Five Koreans charged with smuggling Chinese immigrants into British Columbia last summer were ordered detained Thursday at an immigration hearing shrouded in mystery.
The Koreans are each charged with five counts in relation to the smuggling of 131 Chinese migrants into B.C. last summer. In addition to people-smuggling charges, they face charges of improperly disembarking passengers at sea, failing to provide the necessities of life and two charges each of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
Daphne Shaw Dyck, adjudicator for the immigration review board, ordered the five held in custody because they have no family or friends in the province.
"The manner of their arrival and their lack of family and friends gives me a strong impression that nothing would compel them to appear before (a later inquiry)," she said.
She ordered a publication ban on the names and pictures of the five, who did not appear at the Vancouver hearing.
Shaw Dyck said she was reluctant to adjourn the detention hearing because the immigration review was already overdue.
Under the act, such a review must take place 48 hours after the subjects come under the authority of Immigration Canada, which occurred when the five paid $5 bail each last Friday.
The five will have another immigration hearing Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the five Koreans, plus four others, appeared in Victoria in B.C. Supreme Court.
Justice Ronald McKinnon has said he is inclined to toss the case out.
He ruled the Crown breached the Charter of Rights by failing to disclose or being late in disclosing to the defence up to 4,500 pages of evidence relating to the migrant smuggling trial.
The nine Koreans were arrested Aug. 11 as their vessel headed toward open seas.
Last summer, four vessels and almost 600 migrants were seized and detained as they attempted to illegally enter Canada along B.C.'s vast coastline.
Another twist to the proceedings occurred Wednesday when defence lawyer John Oman said that at least three of the nine men have sought refugee status and are now attempting to stay in Canada.
The criminal case has dragged on since February with scant information given to the public or to the jury due to the publication ban. © The Canadian Press, 2000
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