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Clifford Lo

Eight illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Africa were arrested after marine police intercepted a sampan off Tuen Mun yesterday and found them packed in a 12-square-metre compartment.
The eight men - five from Pakistan, two from Ghana and one from Guinea - were found hidden in a six-metre by two-metre compartment under the open deck of the 12-metre-long motorised sampan, and covered with wooden planks.  
'They were found kneeling or lying in the small space below deck,' Superintendent John Cameron,  head of the marine police's small boat division, said. 
'There was no escape route  and no life-saving equipment. In case of an accident, they would be in a very hazardous and dangerous situation.'
Cameron said they were able to breathe  through the spaces and cracks in the wooden planks during the six-hour trip from Zhuhai  in Guangdong province to Hong Kong. 
Police said it was the first time this year that illegal immigrants were found  in  a  hidden compartment at sea. Police have noticed a rise in the number of  non-Chinese illegal immigrants being arrested in Hong Kong since March. Thirty-two non-Chinese illegal immigrants were caught in January and 41 in February.
But there was a jump to 102 in March and 167 in April.
The leap in figures followed a Court of First Instance ruling in March that said asylum seekers did not break the law when taking work.
Latest figures show that 1,041 non-Chinese illegal immigrants, mostly South Asian, have been arrested so far this year. There were 964 in the whole of last year. More than 90 per cent of the arrested non-Chinese illegal immigrants told police they came by sea from the mainland.
Most of them applied for political asylum after being arrested,  a police officer said. 'So they can seek  work while waiting for their cases to be investigated,' the officer said.
A 23-year-old mainland coxswain, who was caught on deck, was a suspected  people smuggler and  was arrested for endangering the safety of others at sea. This charge carries a maximum penalty of four years' imprisonment.
At about 4am yesterday, police spotted the unlit boat entering Hong Kong waters heading towards Tuen Mun at eight knots.
Officers from the small boat division intercepted the sampan  about  two kilometres north of Lung Kwu Chau,  Tuen Mun, at 4.20am.
The  illegal immigrants, aged between 22 and 38, were found  in the compartment  when the officers removed the wooden planks.  
'An initial investigation showed that each illegal immigrant was charged between 3,000 yuan and 5,000 yuan [HK$3,400 and HK$5,600] to travel to Hong Kong from the mainland,' the police officer said. The eight illegal immigrants   would apply for political asylum, the officer said. Last night, the nine men were being held for questioning. No charges have been laid.
Cameron said the police wanted to send a strong message that  efforts were being directed towards curbing the activities of people smugglers. 
He said police have stepped up patrols in Hong Kong waters.
'At the same time, we have conducted parallel operations and enhanced liaison and intelligence exchange with mainland counterparts to combat the situation,'  he said.



Eight illegal immigrants found hidden in sampan