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Thursday, May 04, 2000

Canadians arrested in alleged Chinese migrant ring
Two held in Detroit: Official went along with bribe in sting operation

Andrew Duffy
Southam News

OTTAWA - Two Canadians will appear in a Detroit courtroom today after being charged with taking part in an alien smuggling ring that brought people from China to the U.S. with bogus visas.

Hyo Young (Peter) Park, 60, of Winnipeg; and Tong (Thomas) Choe, 60, of Toronto, are among six people who face charges of conspiring to smuggle aliens into the United States by bribing a government official.

A hearing today in U.S. District Court will determine if they are returned to Canada pending trial or detained in the U.S.

The INS conducted the investigation without contacting the RCMP or any Canadian enforcement officials.

"You would think we could have been advised, but I guess they didn't think of us," said a Canadian official.

According to the indictment unsealed yesterday in a U.S. Federal Court, the two men paid bribes to a U.S. immigration inspector for entry visas that were affixed to valid passports, then shipped back to co-conspirators in China.

The indictment said the inspector was paid $260,000 (US) to provide entry visas on 425 Chinese passports. The inspector was working for Project Squeeze Play, an undercover operation set up by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Mr. Park and Mr. Choe were arrested on Tuesday after allegedly turning over money and passports to the inspector. They were being held in a Detroit county jail. Saul Green, a U.S. attorney, will ask a judge to keep them in custody.

The four-month investigation was launched to penetrate a smuggling ring believed responsible for transporting thousands of illegal migrants to the U.S. from China's Fujian province.

According to the indictment, 16 illegal aliens from China arrived in the U.S. during the investigation. Their whereabouts are unknown.

Two of the six people charged live in Fujian and are high-ranking Chinese government officials. The two men, Fhang Wei and Fheng Huang, were leaders of the smuggling operation, according to the indictment. It is unlikely they will face trial, because the U.S. has no extradition deal with China.

Three more Canadians were charged in Detroit yesterday with alien smuggling as part of a related investigation. Hip Chow, 48, of Toronto, and his daughters, Jennifer, 22, and Ellis, 21, were charged and released.


 
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