Hong Kong police arrest 14 armed Vietnamese illegal immigrants
Hong Kong police on Monday arrested 14 armed Vietnamese illegal immigrants who sneaked into the territory on a motorised wooden boat, a spokesman said.
The 14 Vietnamese, aged between 22 and 32, were rounded up in Stanley in the southwest of Hong Kong island.
Police were alerted to the group after one of them stole 4,000 Hong Kong dollars (515 US dollars) cash and a walkie-talkie from a lifesaver at Stanley beach.
Police also seized 10 detonator pipes and five knives in the operations.
In July, police also detained 34 Vietnamese who were armed with home-made weapons and knives when they landed on a western shore of Kowloon peninsula.
Some 128 Vietnamese illegal immigrants have been arrested so far this year, compared with 170 throughout 2001, according to latest police figures.
In June 2000, Hong Kong allowed around 1,000 Vietnamese refugees to remain in the territory, after the last Hong Kong-based Vietnamese detention camp was closed and they were unable to resettle them overseas.
The closure brought to an end a 25-year boatpeople saga which began with the fall of Saigon to communist North Vietnamese forces in April 1975.
Agence France Presse - October 21, 2002
|