Cashing in on a human cargo
NOW that police have completed their swoop on the Fuk Ching, the full extent of the horror surrounding its alien smuggling is coming to light.
Kidnap, extortion, ransom demands, beatings and intimidation were the hallmarks of the gang's treatment of the pitiful army of illegal immigrants brought over on the Golden Venture and other ships.
The complaint filed against Guo Qi Wu (Ah Shu), says he was entrusted with co-ordinating the smuggling and banking its proceeds. Wiretaps recorded conversations between Ah Shu and a man known as ''Bad Guy'' in which they discussed the arrival of two ''trucks'' (ships) of ''customers'' (aliens) off the East coast.
Another code-term used for the ships was ''bowls''. Ah Shu was heard demanding to find out who was responsible for the two bowls, so he could go to intercept the aliens if they made land.
Ah Shu was recorded saying: ''We have ways to get them ashore . . . one strike, we'll make a fortune.'' Phone calls of another defendant, Lin De Kang, allegedly reveal the gang's attempts to stay one step ahead of the law. When in July the United States stopped three ships full of illegals off the coast of Mexico, it meant more than a diplomatic incident.
Eavesdropping agents heard Lin saying that because the Mexico incident showed that the US meant business in stopping the ships, the gang would now have to switch to using air transport. Lin later told another caller that he had made US$100,000 from bringing in aliens, but his cousin had been less lucky. This was because he had 50 ''customers'' sent back to China - presumably from the three Mexico boats - and was now having to pay their bail and support them on the mainland.
In another call, according to court papers, Lin phoned his son in Turkey and complained that the gang would have to change smuggling routes following the Mexican interception. There was the question of whether they would get their investment back if the''customers'' were repatriated to China, he said.
Another defendant, Chen Hui, is alleged to have had a phone conversation with contacts in China in July, in which she complained that she had lost money from the Mexican interceptions, because she had six people on the boats.
The callers talked about whether to refund the $1,000 deposit, although Chen said that once an alien had set foot on the boat, there could be no refund, even though they never made it to the US. But she said she would pay half the fine incurred on theirrepatriation to China.
Court papers also suggest that air smuggling is rife. Among charges against Guo Qi Rui is the allegation that he made a phone call on August 7 discussing with a contact how to pick up two ''guests'' up from the airport, who would be charged a fee of $26,000.
The gang members were ruthless with clients who had not paid their fee. Ah Shu's court papers allege that last month he phoned a woman in China and demanded $10,000 for freeing her son, newly arrived, from captivity and allow him to go out to work. Ah Shu told her these terms were generous.
In another case, police monitored a call on Ah Shu's phone from an unidentified victim to a friend, who said: ''I was half beaten to death . . . every day I was beaten . . . you call back tonight and tell her [the caller's sister] that the boss here saidI should get about 10,000[dollars] so I can be released for work, you know? Discuss with sister, no matter how high the interest, should borrow . . . I am kept here alone. I am very pitiful, beaten half to death.'' Ah Shu, Guo Qi Rui, Lin and Chen all face kidnapping and alien smuggling charges which could see them all in jail for life.
