Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DEATH BY SNAKEHEAD
Desperate Chinese pay £30,000 for help in fleeing to the west £1.2m loss will not stop gangsters from plying their evil trade
CHINESE Snakehead gangs are smuggling willing customers from South China to Europe in a “fly-drive” horror trek to the UK once a month.
And they are believed to be behind the movement of the 39 people found dead in Essex this week.
The 31 men and eight women travelled by air from the Fujian region of China to a central location in Europe, all expenses paid.
They were left at several houses before being placed in a goods lorry and driven in darkness, without food, ventilation, water or toilet facilities, to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.
A source, who we cannot name for their own safety, revealed: “This is not a crime in Chinese culture, this is an opportunity.
“It is an agreement between the Snakeheads and their customers – they are willing, they feel no shame in breaking European or British law.
“There is a pride that they get out of Fujian and have a chance of a good life with good money in places like Northern Ireland, England and Scotland, where there are good benefits, and the Republic of Ireland too.
“Yes the journey is difficult, it is uncomfortable and it is frightening but the gamble is normally worth
it. In this case it didn’t work. Something went wrong but the Snakesheads will just go again. There will be no tears.
“The families and friends of the people who have died will be sad but their loved one died trying to get a better life, trying to earn money to send home. They are a hero.
“Another family member will try another time and hope it’s a success.
“In Fujian there is very little employment, very little money or opportunity – so we get it elsewhere.”
The source said Snakeheads have a system in place that is virtually foolproof and is accessible to even the poorest people in South China with no money to be paid up front.
Using the Chinese app Wechat, which is similar to Whatsapp, the gang members and their customers stay in contact without fear of detection. No one is allowed to reveal their intention on social media and each customer is advised to only tell close family members of their plan.
The source added: “There are several ways to get out and try to get into the UK and Ireland. The first and easiest is by plane with false papers but this costs £25,000 and must be paid up front.
“It is an expensive but fast way to do it – it only takes two days in total. Then they become an asylum seeker and wait it out.
“But most people choose the flydrive. The person who wants to travel makes contact with the Snakehead gang in Fujian and agrees a deal to get to the UK or Ireland.
“The deal is £30,000 with no money paid up front. The agreement is simple.
“The Snakehead gang pays for flights from China to a central town or city in Europe.
“The customer does not know the details of the journey and can only speak Chinese so they stick close together.
“They stay there in rented houses where they wait for the next leg of the journey. They have food but the accommodation is not normally very nice. But no one complains. They wait.
“When the Snakeheads have enough people gathered in the one place the gang book a lorry with a container which will pick up the customers and drive them to the port, all in a single journey without allowing them to get out of the lorry.
“From the port the container can remain on the lorry and go on a ferry, or be placed unaccompanied as freight and sailed to the UK or Ireland.
“If it is unaccompanied, once it gets there it is picked up by another lorry which is more usual.
“The person who books the flights, fixes the accommodation, books the road transport. The ones who actually drive the lorries are paid. The lorry driver
They do whatever it takes to earn money and have a new life SOURCE YESTERDAY
on the long journey gets the most and the short journey from inside the UK normally gets about £5,000 – but that is a personal deal with the Snakehead that can be arranged by a third party.
“It’s cash-in-hand and the fees are changeable.
“The second lorry which takes the short journey is given a place to release the customers in the UK and they’re then taken to their accommodation in separate groups, depending on the age or sex of the people involved and the amount of people.
“They are given free accommodation, they have a cook and a cleaner and have to pay no bills until they can register as an asylum seeker.
“After the journey they are allowed
two to three days to rest and then they must find a job themselves. The moment they start looking for a job is the moment they trigger their bill repayments to the Snakehead gang.
“The jobs are all cash-in-hand. The Snakehead charges £30,000 for this service.
“It is expected to be paid back over three years which is typical, but some will pay the money back over five or even 10 years.
“Once the debt is paid, the customer is free to do whatever they want. If they do not pay the money back, a gang member goes to their family in China who then has to pay the debt.
“If they do not they can be punished physically and can even be killed. The customer knows this so it is usual that they pay. They are not educated people, few speak English and they tend to work in Chinese industries from restaurants and takeaways to heavy goods in warehouses.
“Some will work in agriculture, such as mushroom farms, and some even in cannabis factories.
“They do whatever it takes to earn money and have a new life.”
A group of Snakeheads were jailed over the deaths of 58 Chinese migrants found dead in a lorry in Dover in 2000.
But that and the 39 deaths this week will not put them off.
The source said: “They have lost £1.2million in earnings in this problem.
“So they will go again, this time a different route and different drivers.”