Japan nabs 11 Chinese on suspicion of illegal working

The Chinese consulate in Sapporo is working closely with Japanese authorities after 11 Chinese citizens were arrested in Hokkaido, and will make sure the detainees get a fair and impartial investigation, the head of the consulate said on Tuesday.

Sun Zhenyong, consul-general in Sapporo, said that although the whole picture is not clear right now, some of workers had said they were deceived by an intermediary agency to work in Japan.

In a statement, the consulate said four Chinese men brought a patient to a hospital in Kikonai town, 40 kilometers southwest of Hakodate on Nov 25. The patient died the next morning due to illness, while his companions disappeared, leading to a police investigation.

On Nov 26, police arrested 11 Chinese workers, aged from 27 to 62, at a construction site near the train station of Kikonai, on suspicion of violating the immigration control law. Two of them did not have visas and nine others had overstayed, the police said.

After the arrests, police searched the site where the workers had been living and found there were 46 missing.

“A second work group from our consulate is on their way to Hakodate, where the incident happened,” Sun said, “and I believe with their help we can get better information about the one who died, the situation of the detainees and where the investigation is leading to”.

According to media reports, the arrested Chinese workers and others were sent to Hokkaido by a company near Tokyo around September to build a solar power plant.

Ryohei Kashihara, public relations officer of the Hokkaido Prefectural Police, said they were still looking for other Chinese who disappeared from the construction site after the arrests and no further information could be provided because it is still an ongoing investigation.