Mon, Jul 07, 2003 - Page 6 News List

Triad empress got rich trafficking in misery

PEOPLE SMUGGLING The diminutive Sister Ping, or Chen Jingping, was exposed by her subordinate's girlfriend but her lucrative trade shows no sign of slowing down

THE GUARDIAN , LONDON

Although police suspected that he had been taking orders from above, Ozkam refused to name Ping. It was left to Ozkam's ex-girlfriend to contact the police and point them in the right direction.

Caught

in the end

Within hours of the deaths at Dover, Ping had gone into hiding, but was eventually tracked down through a massive police operation.

Last month a Dutch court sentenced Sister Ping to three years in jail and fined her ?8,000 for offences related to human trafficking.

Despite Ping's conviction, the trade in human cargo shows now sign of slowing down. When a small three-bedroom house on the Fairstead Estate in west Norfolk burst into flames in the early hours last month, firemen were shocked to discover 18 Chinese workers sleeping there. All escaped alive.

Super-cheap labor

It has since emerged that at least 1,500 Chinese workers have moved into the King's Lynn area on England's east coast in the past year, most of them working in food processing or farming, often for as little as ?2 per hour.

Police intelligence suggests that the snakeheads are now using areas such as Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, all in eastern England, as final destinations for newcomers because there is more work and cheaper housing than can be found in London.

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