Police arrest 13 IIs on sampan and their 16-year-old captain

Police yesterday arrested 13 illegal immigrants from Pakistan crammed into a 10-metre boat - the second such boatload in 24 hours - as the government races against time to amend the law to stop asylum seekers from working in the city.

The open wooden boat, which came from Shekou in western Shenzhen, was piloted by a 16-year-old boy, the youngest so far caught in charge of a people-smuggling vessel.

Marine police spotted it on the radar at about 1.55am heading towards the Black Point Power Station in Tuen Mun and two police boats gave chase, stopping it at 2.10am.

The number of illegal immigrants has soared since the Court if First Instance ruled in March that asylum seekers did not break the law if they worked while waiting for a ruling on their status. The Security Bureau hopes to table a new law for its third reading in the Legislative Council next month to plug the loophole.

'In addition to [Thursday's] case, this new case provides further evidence that human-smuggling syndicates are exploiting the situation by making significant illegal profits while putting the lives of the illegal immigrants in danger - even using the desperate measure of deploying a 16-year-old boy to pilot the craft,' small boat division head Superintendent John Cameron said.

The 13 men were crammed together and squatting on the deck in the open without life jackets, he said, unlike the previous day's group. The eight illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Africa intercepted in a similar boat in the same area on Thursday were packed into a 12-square-metre compartment covered with planks.

Cameron said police were going all out to combat people-smuggling.