Print

Mail

wiki links

Coast guard traps 20 Chinese women

In an escalating battle with human smugglers, the coast guard has arrested a fishing boat captain and 20 suspected prostitutes from China who tried to illegally immigrate to the nation on the boat, officials said.

The women braved the voyage across the Taiwan Strait even after human smugglers, or "snakeheads," allegedly forced 20 women to jump into the sea last month while being chased by the coast guard. Six of the women drowned.

When asked if she was worried about being dumped into the water, one of the 20 women arrested Thursday night told a local TV cable news channel, "If I die, I'll just die. All my problems will be solved."

The young woman, with rusty red dyed hair, would only say "I don't know" when a TV reporter asked why she was trying to come to Taiwan and how much she paid the snakeheads.

The TV news showed officials pulling the women, who appeared to be in their 20s, from the boat. Most of them hid their faces from TV cameras as coast guard officials in bright orange uniforms made them squat down on a dock at the northeast port of Suao.

More than 2,000 women from China are in detention camps, the government says, and most were arrested while working in brothels or hostess bars.

The government has accused China of not being aggressive in cracking down on snakeheads, who often work with Taiwanese partners. The government has also complained that China isn't being cooperative in quickly repatriating the women.

The coast guard began following the boat, registered in Taiwan, on Thursday afternoon, coast guard official Chang Ben-yuan said.

Worried that the captain might dump the women, officials filmed the chase to document any possible wrongdoing, Chang said.

The Taiwanese captain also was arrested.

"When we inspected the boat, we found 20 Chinese women hiding below deck in the back," he said.

Officials have said that the snakeheads demand smuggling fees of NT$200,000 to NT$300,000.

The women usually don't have to pay the money up front. They can pay off the debt as they work in brothels or bars.
This story has been viewed 2304 times.