INS Detains 11 Found in Shipping Container
LONG BEACH — Eleven Chinese nationals--who hid themselves inside a shipping container for a two-week voyage from Asia--were discovered by federal immigration authorities Thursday after the ship they were aboard docked in the Port of Long Beach.
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization officials suspect that the 11 men are part of a sophisticated smuggling operation based in either Taiwan or Hong Kong.
INS agents, U.S. Customs officials, and U.S. Coast Guard personnel boarded the Hanjin Beijing, an 850-foot container ship, about 5 a.m. Thursday as it arrived at the Hanjin terminal in Long Beach.
They found nine adults and two juveniles inside a 40-foot shipping container that was equipped with food, water and bedding. INS officials said there are indications that the group paid a smuggler to get them on the ship.
Rosemary Melville, deputy district director for the INS in Los Angeles, said the case represents the first time immigration officials have seen smugglers use shipping containers.
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