Authorities dismantle illegal immigration network

The Judiciary Police (PJ), in collaboration with the Macao Customs Service (SA), have dismantled a criminal organization dedicated to providing illegal transportation of people from the mainland into Macau, a PJ spokesperson advised yesterday during the force’s special press conference to unveil the case.
According to the information provided during the press conference, the PJ received a tip-
off that the clandestine cell was preparing to perform another of its operations, and with the help of the PJ’s Zhuhai counterpart, planned an operation that resulted in the detention of three suspects in the early hours of June 9.
The three suspects, all males from the mainland, were caught at around 3:30 a.m. after having disembarked from a small rubber boat in the surrounding area of the Sai Van Bridge. Two of the men were illegal immigrants and the third person was a member of the organization responsible for navigating the boat that transported them into Macau.
The Zhuhai police authorities also revealed that they have detained a further four people suspected of being part of the same criminal organization that, according to information from the PJ, has been operating for about one month.
Upon being taken in for questioning, the two illegal immigrants revealed that they had hired the services of the criminal group in order to get to Macau, where they were planning to gamble in the local casinos.
They claim to have used this method to avoid the border restrictions currently imposed on tourists, including those from the mainland, that wish to visit Macau due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Further questioning of all suspects revealed that the people using these illegal methods of accessing the region were paying amounts between RMB10,000 and 30,000 per person for each trip.
The man in charge of the boat’s navigation, who told PJ he was working as a construction worker in the mainland, received RMB5,000 as compensation for the job.
The suspects were taken yesterday afternoon to the Public Prosecutions Office for further investigation and to be charged with the crimes of illegal immigration and the facilitation of illegal immigration. The PJ does not discard the possibility that other charges might come at a later stage concerning the participation of one of the suspects within the group of four other people who were detained in Zhuhai.