A DILAPIDATED, fly-infestedfishing boat now moored off Yau Ma Tei is coming under intense police and diplomatic scrutiny following intelligence reports from Singapore that it is set to take Chinese illegal immigrants to North America.
Detectives from the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau raided the 150-tonne EIYU 1 last week, scouring its wood-lined holds for bunks and looking for any sign of its Hongkong agent.
Inquiries are continuing, although last week's search turned up nothing.
Diplomatic sources said the ship had been linked with an international human-smuggling syndicate running a fleet of up to 15 ships, including the ill-fated East Wood, whose cargo of Chinese illegal immigrants were forced home from the Marshall Islands inMarch.
The Honduras-registered ship limped into Hongkong without a cargo this month after breaking down on its way from Singapore to Taiwan.
Its Indonesian crew left the territory soon after, forcing the owner's Hongkong representative, known to police only as Mr Hung, to arrange three watchmen to live on the ship at its mooring.