Snakeheads expose cruelsome truth (China Daily) Updated: 2004-02-13 00:27
Though British authorities have not identified 19
cockle pickers who drowned at Morecambe Bay in the United Kingdom, 16 families
in East China's Fujian Province have reported their relatives missing and fear
some may be among the victims.
And among those, 15 of the families are from Fuqing, a city in Fujian
Province.
According to an insider, some 30 per cent of able-bodied labourers who once
lived in Fuqing are believed to live abroad now.
Why would so many Fuqing residents want to go abroad, even at a huge cost?
An insider, who had worked as a human smuggler, or snakehead as locals say,
for 10 years and wanted to be known by the alias Lin Hai, told some of the
stories he has witnessed to China Daily.
Lin said the craze to go abroad among people in Fuqing started with some
advertisements in the early 1990s.
"Some companies in Fuzhou (capital of Fujian Province) posted advertisements
in Fuqing then, recruiting people to work in Japan and claiming that after
paying less than 100,000 yuan (US$12,050) people can earn an annual income of
200,000 yuan (US$24,100) there," Lin said.
Several thousand residents in Fuqing went to Japan this way, and some of them
came back and became snakeheads themselves to smuggle more locals to Japan, he
said.
At that time, almost all stowaways from Fuqing chose Japan as the
destination, and prices varied depending on the smuggling route.
He explained that 100,000 yuan (US$12,050) was enough to smuggle a man to
Japan by sea, and 150,000 yuan (US$18,000) would be required if stowaways wanted
to leave with a false passport.
Since stowaways who arrived in Japan before the year 1995 have earned a lot
of money, the number of Fuqing locals leaving for Japan in the next five years
has risen to an astonishing level, he said.
At the end of the 1990s, villages in the Fuqing area have seen more and more
houses being built and private cars bought.
However, along with the rising population of stowaways from Fuqing in Japan,
the number of crimes committed by illegal immigrants from Fuqing have also been
increasing.
It has attracted attention from the Japanese Government, which has
strengthened its crackdown on human smuggling and implemented tighter checkups
on illegal immigrants from Fuqing in Japan, Lin said.
As it was becoming more difficult to sneak into Japan, snakeheads started to
smuggle people to countries in Europe, especially the United Kingdom.
"More Fuqing locals stowed away for Britain because the country has an aging
population which lacks labourers, and there were plenty of opportunities for
illegal employment with a wage 10 times higher than that in China or eastern
European countries," said another anonymous snakehead, who had organized
stowaway groups to the UK.
He said the first batch of stowaways from Fuqing to Britain have earned a
fortune there, working in fields ranging from nursing to setting up their own
businesses.
"They could earn an annual income of 150,000 yuan (US$18,000) on average
then, but with more people going, it is becoming more difficult to find a
satisfying job,'' said the insider. "So snakeheads started introducing stowaways
to work as gatherers of cockle shells."
People from Fuqing have also been smuggled into France, Germany, the United
States, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, Lin said.
The cost of smuggling humans to countries like Germany and France is about
150,000 yuan (US$18,000).
According to Lin, after arriving in countries like Ukraine, the Czech
Republic and Italy, stowaways to Germany and France will be carried in
containers and hidden in ships or sometimes taking underground routes, bribing
border police and even walk to another country.
Lin added the population working as snakeheads in Fuqing now is "huge."
"Many snakeheads belong to one family, and others are friends. They
co-operate with each other, take charge of different areas of human smuggling,
and get rich by sharing money from the stowaways," he said.