22 caught in apparent human smuggling effort at Port of Seattle
SEATTLE P-I STAFF and NEWS SERVICES seattlepi.com

Twenty-two people were being held early Wednesday after they apparently arrived in a 40-foot cargo container at the Port of Seattle aboard a ship from China, officials said.

Security guards spotted the 18 men and four women about 1 a.m. at Terminal 18 and determined that they were not crew members from the recently arrived cargo ship Rotterdam, said Michael Milne, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

All appeared to be Chinese nationals in their 20s and 30s and in good physical condition after about 15 days in a 40-foot container that was loaded onto the Liberian-flagged ship in Shanghai, China, Milne said.

None appeared to be in control or directing the others, nor was there evidence of "any real criminal or terrorist activity ... just an alien smuggling operation," Milne said.

They were being interviewed with the aid of a Mandarin translator and had been removed from the terminal around 7 a.m., he said. They were taken to the federal immigration building in the Tukwila area and will eventually be moved to a Tacoma detention facility.

The stowaways will likely face deportation proceedings.

Early Wednesday, Milne did not know the home provinces of the undocumented individuals. In the past, residents from Fujian province have paid human smugglers -- known as "snakeheads" in Chinese -- tens of thousands of dollars to make the voyage to the United States.

That coastal province, which sits across from Taiwan, is known for being home to many adventurous residents. Some have migrated to the United States and Southeast Asia. Numerous migrants have gone to New York City's Chinatown in search of underground work to pay off transportation debts and to earn money for families.

Economic migrants also have made their way to the United States from Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, both of which sit on the coast.



The container, second from the ground in a stack of four, had been flagged for a special examination which had not been conducted before the group was caught, Milne said. He would not reveal why it had been flagged but said it was equipped with water bottles, food, blankets and toilet facilities.

It was apparently the first time a human-smuggling attempt using a cargo container had been detected in Seattle since a flurry of similar incidents along the U.S. and Canadian West Coasts in 2000 and 2001. 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.

The Rotterdam docked about 9 a.m. Tuesday and was carrying general cargo. After Shanghai, the ship made three stops at other Asian ports -- Milne said he did not know which ones -- and then at Pusan, South Korea, before heading for Seattle.

Early Wednesday, the group apparently pried open the container, lowered themselves about seven feet to the ground and tried to slip out of the secured terminal area, he said.

About half were discovered by a guard "on a routine security patrol" within the terminal and the other half were spotted trying to get out through Gate 4, Milne said.

Once they were intercepted, "there was no attempt to flee or hide," he said. "They were cooperative."

Port and city police and federal authorities established a cordon and checked cars leaving Harbor Island. They are confident no one who might have been in the container escaped detection, Milne said.

Officials are interviewing the crew and plan to search the container for more information. Milne was unaware of any person who was waiting for the stowaways near the terminal.

In recent years, undocumented migrants from South Korea have made their way to the Northwest, by arriving in Vancouver, B.C. and then crossing at remote places along the Washington state border.

Brad Wong contributed to this report. He can be reached at 206-448-8137 or bradwong@seattlepi.com.