Shanghai 'snakeheads' arrested

Illegal immigration is a multi-dollar business

By Duncan Hewitt in Shanghai

Police in the Chinese city of Shanghai have arrested a gang of "snakeheads" - or human traffickers - suspected of smuggling Chinese citizens to South Korea.

Local media said the gang was caught after 41 people tried to board a flight to South Korea using fake papers.

Migrants are promised fabulous riches in the West

China has recently made pledges to a number of governments to clamp down on people smuggling - a problem highlighted by the deaths last year of 58 people in a lorry as they sought to enter the UK illegally.

Shanghai police said the gang of snakeheads was the largest ever caught in the city.

Suspicions

A spokeswoman told the Shanghai Daily newspaper that 10 people have been detained so far.

The alleged gang leader is reported to have confessed to arranging the illegal entry of more than 100 people to South Korea over the past year.

The case came to light after the gang organised a fake business delegation.

Police reportedly became suspicious after noticing that the travellers came from poor parts of the city and they discovered that the company they claimed to work for did not exist.

The Shanghai Daily said the gang charged the would-be migrants around $4,500 each - and promised to help them find work in South Korea.

Dreams

The incident is a reminder of the continuing supply of Chinese citizens willing to pay large sums for the dream of working abroad, and the continuing number of snakeheads eager to exploit them.

In another recent case, a Chinese student was detained at Guangzhou airport after trying to leave the country on a fake central American passport.

He had attempted to fool immigration officers by bleaching his hair, wearing sunglasses and speaking English.

State media said the man's mother had arranged the trip so that he could earn enough money to repay the family's debts to a gang of snakeheads who had previously smuggled his brother out of the country.

Some 400 human traffickers were detained in the province of Fujian last year.