A total of 13 suspected human smugglers involved in the Taiwan
Straits human trafficking case that saw the death of six mainland
women on August 26 were caught in east China's Fujian
Province as of last Saturday.
"Some of the 13 have been confirmed to have been directly
involved in the smuggling of 26 mainland women to Taiwan last
Tuesday," said Wang Bing, vice-director of the provincial Public
Security and Border Defense Bureau.
According to Wang, the 13 suspects, including four Taiwanese,
were arrested in the cities of Fuzhou and Putian while they were
allegedly organizing the smuggling of a new group of five mainland
women to Taiwan.
The five women were also detained along with the suspected
traffickers.
Wang said that by analyzing information collected from TV
broadcasts, the Internet and other channels, which he refused to
make public, the Fujian police traced and arrested several members
said to belong to the human trafficking gang that threw 26 mainland
women into the sea to avoid getting caught by Taiwan patrol guards,
who were approaching to make an on-board inspection of their vessel
near Tunghsiao, on the island.
"Given the fact that cross-Straits human trafficking gangs, with
most of their principals being Taiwanese, collaborate closely in
transporting mainlanders to the island, it is a very difficult task
to catch all the smugglers involved in the case in a short time.
But the police will take every measure possible to bring all those
involved to justice," said Wang.
Wang said it is still unclear how the 26 women were inveigled
into the attempt and smuggled to Taiwan, and police both on the
mainland and in Taiwan are still investigating the case.
The Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) issued
information on the six drowned women last Friday.
According to SEF, four victims are Fujian natives. However, the
Fujian police said that the four women are not registered residents
of the province.
"The human traffickers are continuing their criminal activities
even after the tragedy on August 26," Wang said.
The five newly caught mainland women are from different areas of
the country.
(China Daily September 1, 2003)