Three men and two women on the Chinese mainland have been
convicted of smuggling 43 women to Hong Kong and sentenced to three
to 12 years in jail in a court in Shanghai.
Fifty-seven-year-old Dong Weicheng and his accomplices illegally
transported 43 young women, all from the southern Chinese city of
Shenzhen, to Hong Kong between March and October in 2004, the
Shanghai Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court heard.
The gang charged each stowaway 3,200 yuan (US$400).
Some of the stowaways were captured by the Hong Kong police for
prostitution, the court heard.
Dong and his two female accomplices, Bi Xiaofu and Liu Ying,
were sentenced to seven to 12 years in prison for organizing the
operation. They were also fined 20,000 to 100,000 yuan (US$2,500 to
12,500).
The other two men, Shi Yisheng and Wu Yongfu, were both
sentenced to three years in imprisonment and fined 2,000 yuan
(US$250) for fraud in obtaining exit certificates from the local
authorities in Shanghai with fabricated business letters, the
ruling said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2006)
