Scarborough father, daughters implicated in `sting' operation

WASHINGTON - Five Canadians, including a Toronto family of three, have been charged with being part of a ring smuggling migrants from China into the United States.

After a four-month sting called ``Operation Squeeze Play,'' set up by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to stem the tide of illegal migrants from China's Fujian province, the Canadians and two Americans were arrested by INS investigators in Detroit late Tuesday night and early yesterday.

Hip Chuen Chow of Scarborough and his daughters Jennifer, 22, and Ellis, 21, face alien smuggling charges.

They were released from custody after posting a $25,000 (U.S.) bond and are to appear in a Detroit court on May 22.

Tong ``Thomas'' Choe of Toronto and Hyo Young ``Peter'' Park of Winnipeg are to appear in court in Detroit today on charges of conspiring to smuggle aliens and bribing a public official.

Park, who is alleged to have acted as an organizer of the smuggling ring, faces a second bribery charge.

Two Americans from Pennsylvania and two people from Fujian province also are indicted on smuggling conspiracy charges.

Posing as a ``corrupt immigration inspector,'' senior immigration official Ronald Katz met Park, Choe and other alleged smugglers several times at a Detroit airport motel, where he was handed 425 Chinese passports and cash.

In return, Katz was to put American visas into the passports.

Their whereabouts are unknown.

``The Canadians were middlemen,'' Vitrano said.

``They would give the money to an INS inspector posing as a corrupt immigration inspector for visas for the Chinese.''

It's alleged Chow ``offered his daughters as guides'' who would walk the Chinese migrants through the Detroit airport, Vitrano said.

An unnamed person involved in the INS sting travelled from the U.S. to China in the last week of March to meet unnamed leaders of the alleged smuggling operation in Fujian province, the indictment reveals.

The leaders were so encouraged by the apparent co-operation of the ``corrupt'' INS officer that they made a videotape to convince other American officials to join the scheme, the indictment says.

Afterward, the alleged smugglers gave the undercover agent ``a tour of a passport office, from which Chinese exit visas for the aliens were to be issued.''

Vitrano said the video will be used at trial.

At Chow's home in the Sheppard and Warden Ave. area, his wife and three other daughters were shocked yesterday to receive news of the arrests from a reporter.

``I just talked to my husband this morning and all he said was they would not be home as scheduled,'' said Chow's Cantonese-speaking wife, who refused to give her name.

``I am so shocked. This is impossible. Why did you create such claims to defame my family,'' said the petite woman in her 40s, before asking the reporter to leave.

But a girl who identified herself as Chow's daughter confirmed that he and two daughters were in Detroit to ``see friends and relatives.''

Neighbours said the Chows are private people who have lived in the Scarborough neighbourhood for at least 13 years.

``They appear to be very shy and don't really socialize a lot with other neighbours.

``The husband never says `hi' to anyone,'' said a neighbour who has lived there for three years.

Chow ran a grocery store in Toronto's Chinatown until recently, and his wife teaches piano at home, according to the neighbours.

The couple have five girls - the youngest is about 12, and two are in university.

``This is unbelievable,'' said another neighbour. ``They just seem to be an ordinary family to me; they don't live a flashy lifestyle.''

In Detroit, U.S. authorities won't divulge just how far-reaching they suspect this alleged smuggling venture might be.

And they refused comment yesterday on allegations that the Chinese government is involved in smuggling people into Canada and the U.S.

Nor would they comment on published reports that Chinese police and a high-ranking military officer, ostensibly a general, are implicated, too.

Any involvement of Chinese government officials would fly in the face of assurances Beijing gave last week to Canadian Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan that China was doing everything possible to stem alien traffic to North America.

The conspiracy would also seem to confirm fears that another wave of Chinese migrants could appear on Canadian shores this summer.

In Ottawa, Caplan hailed the U.S. arrests.

``I was very pleased to see actions taken on the U.S. side of the border,'' she told The Star's Allan Thompson. ``We take actions on our side when we have enough information to make arrests.''

``We all want to see transnational criminal organizations that are trafficking in people - human smuggling akin to modern-day slavery - we want to see it ended,'' Caplan said.

She admitted Canadian authorities were not directly involved in this particular investigation, but said Canada and the U.S. routinely co-operate on such matters.

In the U.S., INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said in a statement yesterday: ``Criminal organizations responsible for trafficking in human beings have been dealt another major setback.''

People convicted of involvement in smuggling rings face top sentences of 10 to 15 years and fines ranging from $250,000 to $600,000 (U.S.)