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Shanghai defendant denies leading major 'snakehead gang'

By Cao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-28 09:26

SHANGHAI: A Shanghai man, allegedly the head of a massive snakehead gang that has smuggled hundreds of people to Europe and the United States, claimed that he simply assisted them in securing visas, a court heard Friday.

Jiang Yi, 30, told Shanghai Jinshan District People's Court that he provided his clients services without knowing their real purpose for going abroad. "They supplied me materials," he said, admitting that he had faked some details to qualify the clients for a visa.

According to the indictment, Jiang falsely claimed that his clients, mostly farmers from Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, were senior managers who intended to go abroad for business activities.

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He allegedly wrote to exhibition organizers that someone was planning to attend the event and requested an invitation letter for visa.

Jiang was seized in March 2008 with about 40 other suspects in the gang, one of the biggest in the country.

Investigators found the gang smuggled hundreds abroad from 2002 to 2008, according to Chen Ting, a division chief of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau.

At the court hearing on Friday, Jiang and five others faced trial. Zhang Jieneng, another suspect, said he introduced Jiang to clients.

According to Zhang, they charged clients each from 30,000 yuan ($4,400) to 80,000 yuan, depending on the services they asked for and where they were from. No verdict has been reached so far.

According to the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, Shanghai is becoming an increasingly popular port for illegal immigration.

From 2005, Shanghai Jinshan District People's Court has tried 32 cases of immigration fraud.