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Twenty-two stowaways caught at Seattle shipping terminal(Seattle Times, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 5--The 18 men and four women, believed to be from China, traveled to the United States inside a 40-foot shipping container. They were caught early this morning by a Port of Seattle security officer who was on routine patrol. Twenty-two Chinese stowaways were caught early this morning entering this country in a shipping container. The 40-foot container was flagged for inspection and the people hiding inside would have been discovered even if they hadn't been caught early this morning by Port of Seattle security, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. The Rotterdam, a container ship that left Hong Kong on March 19, later arrived in Shanghai, where the container carrying 18 men and four women was loaded on board, said CBP spokesman Mike Milne. The Rotterdam departed Shanghai on March 23, arriving at Terminal 18 on Seattle's Harbor Island around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Milne said. Around 1 a.m. today, a Port of Seattle security officer was on routine patrol when some men were found in a secure area. Those men then led officers back to the container where the other stowaways were discovered, said Leigh Winchell, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge. The stowaways, all believed to be Chinese nationals, spent at least 15 days inside the container and were all in "fairly good health" when they were caught. He wouldn't say why the container raised suspicion. Investigators are now trying to find the people -- both in the U.S. and China -- who arranged for the stowaways' transit, he said. "Clearly it's an organized human smuggling attempt," Winchell said. "It is a huge business and these people are treated like commodities." Millions of cargo containers arrive daily in the U.S. and every one of them is screened even before they are loaded onto U.S.-bound ships, Milne said. Five to six percent are flagged as "high risk" and are either x-rayed or physically opened once they are unloaded onto American soil, he said. "This one was targeted but I can't say why," he said. "We try to keep our targeting protocols--secret." Inside the container officials found food, water, blankets and garbage cans that were used as toilets, Milne said. They also found tools, presumably to help those inside break out of the container, he said. Though investigators are still trying to determine who the stowaways are and what they planned to do once arriving here, Milne said it's likely they were to be picked up by someone and taken to another city, possibly Los Angeles or New York. "Most people smuggled into the U.S. (this way) are not destined for Seattle--but we don't know specifically where they were going." Milne said it's not clear yet how much each person may have paid to be smuggled into the country, but said officials in Los Angeles report that it typically costs $30,000 to $60,000 a person. But the money is rarely paid up front, he said. "They may have to work for a long period of time to work off that debt." This apparently is the first detection of a human smuggling attempt using a cargo container in Seattle since a flurry along the U.S. and Canadian West Coast in 2000 and 2001, according to The Associated Press. Almost all of those caught were deported, but three of 18 in a shipping container aboard the NYK Cape May died before reaching Seattle in January 2000. |