Thirteen Pakistanis smuggled to Hong Kong on rickety sampan

Oct 9, 2009, 8:02 GMT

   Hong Kong - Thirteen Pakistani men have been detained after being smuggled into Hong Kong from China on board a rickety wooden sampan skippered by a 16-year-old, marine police said Friday.

   The illegal migrants were found in the open-topped sampan Friday morning off Hong Kong, just a day after another group of eight Africans and Pakistanis was found in another sampan in Hong Kong waters.

   In Friday's case, marine police said the sampan was skippered by a 16-year-old youth from Hainan Island in southern China.

   Marine police Superintendent John Cameron said there had been a surge in the number of asylum seekers from Pakistan, Africa and other countries trying to reach Hong Kong.

   'This case provides further evidence that smuggling syndicates are exploiting the situation and making significant profits by putting the lives of illegal immigrants at risk,' he said.

   The number of non-Chinese illegal immigrants arrested in Hong Kong jumped from around 40 people a month at the beginning of the year to more than 150 a month in recent months.

   The surge is believed to be related to a High Court ruling in March that asylum seekers in the wealthy city of 7 million can work while awaiting decisions on their applications.