Police from China and the United States cooperated for the first
time to extradite 119 illegal Chinese immigrants by chartered
flight on June 28, the Ministry of Public Security disclosed on
Friday.
In early April, US officials submitted a 288-person list of
illegal immigrants, asking Chinese police to confirm their IDs,
just ahead of the visit of Michael Chertoff, the newly appointed
secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the ministry said
on its website.
A consensus was then reached on the repatriation of the
stowaways during the meeting between the ministry official and the
US official, it said.
On June 26, a six-person panel, consisting of a Chinese police
liaison officer and diplomats from the Chinese Embassy and General
Consulate in Houston, Texas reached El Paso, Texas to check
preparation and safety measures as well to minister to the
stowaways and confirm their identities.
On the morning of June 28, the chartered plane took off from the
United States, bounding for Changle International Airport in east
China's Fujian Province, the home of the stowaways, the report
said.
China's police departments have enhanced their efforts to crack
down on illegal human smuggling in recent years, experts
said.
During the first half of this year, for example, the exit-entry
administration department seized 3,021 stowaways as well as nabbed
130 people who organized others to enter or leave the borders
illegally, the ministry said.
(China Daily July 22, 2006)