Under the pretext of providing high-paid work in a Southeast Asian country, a "snakehead" named Pan Huihua has been charged with illegally sending seven young women from Shanghai abroad earlier this year.

Pan applied for passports for the women and obtained visas by using forged documents after receiving 25,000 yuan (US$3,023) from each of the women.

But when they women arrived at their destination, Pan forced them to work in the sex industry against their will. The women managed to return to China where they reported Pan to the public security authorities.

From October last year to last month, 42 illegal immigration cases have been cracked in Shanghai and a total of 64 suspects arrested.

An official surnamed Zhang from the Shanghai Exit and Entry Administration Office said that the enormous profits gained from the illegal immigration traffic was the main reason behind illegal emigration. In each case, the illegal emigrant had to pay lots of money to the "Shetou" or "Snakehead" who had organized the operation.

According to Zhang, "Snakehead" were usually themselves experienced in travelling abroad. They cheated those who had no knowledge of the outside world and sent them abroad, then forced them to engage in the sex industry in Southeast Asia.

"The victims in the Pan Huihua case were relatively lucky -- at least they returned and dared to report the case to us," Zhang said. "But often the victims have not dared to report these cases because of psychological pressure and the terrible experiences they have suffered abroad."

Generally, there were two kinds of Shetou. The first were tightly organized, expert at organizing illegal migration, forging documents and arranging transport abroad. The second did not have such specialized organizations. The Pan Huihua case belonged to the latter category.

In 2003, the Shanghai Exit and Entry Administration Office published the names of 39 legal agencies which had the right to deal with emigration to help people avoid being misled into obtaining visas with false documents.

(Shanghai Star April 1, 2004)