16 Chinese found in cargo container :

The Long Beach Press Telegram ^ | Sunday, February 3, 2002 | Kristopher Hanson

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

16 Chinese found in cargo container

By Kristopher Hanson
Staff writer

LONG BEACH - Sixteen Chinese nationals were apprehended Saturday morning after being discovered crammed inside a filthy shipping container in the Port of Long Beach, officials said.

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The detainees, all men or boys, were found inside one of roughly 3,000 large metal containers that arrived in port on a Chinese government-owned freighter, said Tom Graber, an Immigration and Naturalization Service port director.

Their capture marks the second time in a week that smuggled Chinese men have been found in the port. Four men were found wandering around the port last week in a similar smuggling operation in which 11 men were estimated to have escaped, Graber said.

The men detained Saturday had apparently agreed to pay their smugglers about $60,000 for a voyage to the United States that began on Jan. 19 in the southern Chinese province of Chiwan, officials said.

"They had car batteries set up to power makeshift lights, bottled water, bottles to urinate in and some food," Graber said. "The conditions were absolute filth."

The detainees arrived on the Han We freighter at the Cosco Agencies terminal, Graber said.

"It's the same place where they caught those guys last week," Graber said. "In that case, the men were able to shimmy down some sheets and escape. They were able to get out before anyone knew about it."

INS officials, acting on a tip, arrested the 16 males, three of whom claimed to be 17, as their container was opened at about 11:15 a.m.

"The container was located in the hull of the vessel, so it took about two hours to actually extract it out of the hold," Graber said.

The men were taken to an INS detention center on Terminal Island and appeared to be in good health, he said.

A typical shipping container is about 10 feet high, 6 feet wide and 30 feet long. Small holes are usually cut into the floorboard to allow air to flow in and out.

[Cachelot]

The detainees, all men or boys, were found inside one of roughly 3,000 large metal containers that arrived in port on a Chinese

"Dear Dumb Chinese Souvenir And Cr*ppy Trinket Company INC. We found 16 of your staff in the first container we opened. It was a nasty and smelly experience, and then we had to feed them. We are returning the other containers unopened, at your expense, since we won't expose our staff to this kind of unpleasantness in a wanton manner. Please send soonest 3000 containers with the agreed-on goods without any "extras", and do feel free to give a suitable rebate for our inconvenience (25% seems like a good starting point)."

[American in Israel]

. Little in-house Chinese army being assembled, eh?

Perhaps to meet up with some of those container ships full of AK's that slipped through no doubt. Interesting though, it shows the assualt is soon.

[RnMomof7]

I wonder if these so called boys/men are really part of a long term chinese strategy to bring terror to the US. Wonder if they had contacts set up here in the US to take them in, feed and water and train and arm them. Wonder if there have been two such episodes in TWO WEEKS if this hasn't been going on week in week out.... Cosco-tho not our nation's friend (it is owned by the chinese government, of course)-certainly was/is bill clinton's and diane feinstein's friend.

Thank you for posting my thoughts

The Chinese are NOT our friends folks

[Republic]

The Chinese are NOT our friends folks.

Indeed, they are far from being our friends, tho I expect billy and hilly clinton found their ways of doing business quite familiar. More than the dumbed down masses here who so blindly stayed supportative of the filthy, criminal actions of bill and hill clinton, I expect the Chinese officials miss bill being prez even more.

[tallhappy]

"had apparently agreed to pay their smugglers about $60,000 for a voyage to the United States..." Wouldn't these chinese be considered wealthy in china?

They pay it off working in the US. It is a form of indentured servitude.