China's harsh crackdown on human trafficking pays off

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 25, 2004

China's harsh crackdown on human trafficking pays off

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Chinese police captured a total of 5,286 stowaways and 444 human traffickers in a five-month campaign from October 2003 to March this year, said an official with the Public Security Ministry at a regular press conference Wednesday.

Chen Weiming, director of the frontier bureau with the ministry, disclosed that police also repatriated 16,282 foreigners illegally entering, staying or working in China during the clear-up campaign.

"Targeting the growing human trafficking cases and rampant smuggling of guns and narcotics at borders, the campaign has helped maintain the public security and stability in these areas," Chen said.

He noted that the crackdown in China's northwestern border areas helped prevent ethnic separatists, religious extremists and terrorists from sneaking into or out of China.

It also contributed to the interception of drugs and firearms at China's southwestern border. During the five-month period, the police solved 2004 drug smuggling cases, seizing 2,086 kg of heroin, 240 kg of opium and 683 kg of "ice", or methamphetamine. They also captured 434 guns by cracking 155 firearm-related cases.

Meanwhile, the campaign helped police tackle 1,249 smuggling cases, which involved more than 65 million yuan (7.9 million US dollars), in southeastern coastal areas.

Chen acknowledged that the ministry had listed the hunting and capture of trafficking organizers, or "snakeheads", as one of the priority tasks of the campaign.

Last October, the police in northeastern Jilin province arrested eight human traffickers, including one from the United States and two from the Republic of Korea (ROK), who were charged with smuggling citizens from China's neighboring countries to the ROK and sending illegal immigrants to commit blasts in Chinese border cities.

Nevertheless, Chen also said that illegal immigration and human trafficking organized by international criminal gangs and "snakeheads" cannot be wholly curbed because of its huge profits and the uneven economic development situations in different countries.

Last year, the country's public security departments seized 3,999 stowaways and captured 774 human traffickers, down 24 percent and 38 percent respectively from the previous year.

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