Covid-19: court for Chinese man who smuggled 4 people from Hong Kong to Shenzhen at height of outbreak
- A man faces prosecution after he and his clients were arrested soon after crossing the closed border
- Authorities say the smuggled people were mainlanders trying to return after illegally entering Hong Kong for work
The man, identified only by his surname Chen in a government notice on Tuesday, is understood to be from the mainland. Authorities accused him of picking up four people from Ta Kwu Ling in Hong Kong’s New Territories and illegally led them across the nearby border with Guangdong province.
Chen was accused of being connected with a Hong Kong smuggler and organising the illegal journey on February 10 after repeatedly surveying the route. He allegedly clipped a picket wire fence on the mainland side of the closed border to enter Ta Kwu Ling.
Illegal border crossings have been on the rise since daily Covid-19 cases began to soar in Hong Kong last month.
As part of their heightened pandemic control measures, a number of cities in southern China’s Pearl River Delta have offered rewards of up to 500,000 yuan (US$78,450) for tip-offs of illegal entrants or “stowaways”.
Chen and three of his alleged clients were arrested soon after making the crossing in Liantang, directly north of Ta Kwu Ling on the mainland side of the dividing river, by Shenzhen public security and border control armed police.
A fourth illegal entrant was arrested the next day, according to the Shenzhen health commission.
Chen has reportedly confessed to the smuggling charges. The authorities said the four people he smuggled were mainlanders who initially had entered Hong Kong illegally looking for work. Two of them tested positive for Covid-19.
