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A Canadian forged passport courier and two Mainland residents involved in the possession of forged Canadian passports and conspiracy to defraud an airline were jailed by the District Court today (June 27).
The three female defendants are Mainland residents Lin Shi, 17, and Zeng Yingtao, 19, and 31-year-old Canadian Lin Mei Qing.
Lin Shi was charged with one count of possession of a false travel document and one count of conspiracy to defraud. She pleaded guilty to her two charges and was jailed for 12 months on the possession charge and 15 months on the conspiracy charge. The sentences are to run concurrently, making a total of 15 months' imprisonment.
Zeng Yingtao was also charged with one count of possession of a false travel document and one count of conspiracy to defraud. She was convicted on both charges after trial and was sentenced to 15 and 24 months' jail respectively. The sentences are to run concurrently, making a total of 24 months' imprisonment.
The courier, Lin Mei Qing, pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy to defraud. She was jailed for 25 months on each charge, sentences to run concurrently.
Acting on intelligence provided by a Canadian Migration Integrity Officer, Immigration investigators mounted surveillance at the Hong Kong International Airport in November, 2005. They followed the forged passport courier into a washroom at the airport and found Mainland resident Lin Shi waiting there. The two women were exchanging documents from one cubicle to another. The two women were subsequently apprehended.
A forged Canadian passport bearing Mainland resident Lin Shi's photo and a boarding pass were found in the Mainland resident's possession. The two documents were in the name of another person. The courier was found in possession of a People's Republic of China (PRC) passport and a PRC identity card in respect of Lin Shi.
Immigration investigators also intercepted Zeng at a boarding gate. She had the courier's boarding pass and a forged Canadian passport bearing her own photo but in the courier's name.
The two Mainland residents admitted that middlemen arranged for them to use false travel documents to seek work in the United States. They would use false passports and another person's boarding pass for the flight to Japan and onward to the United States.
Under the laws of Hong Kong, anyone who possesses a false travel document commits an offence. Offenders are liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, the maximum penalty will be a fine of $150,000 and imprisonment for 14 years. Moreover, any person convicted the offence of conspiracy to defraud shall be liable to imprisonment for 14 years.
Ends/Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Issued at HKT 18:32
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