Ship Carrying Chinese Was Hijacked, Crew Says

They paid $10,000 each for a chance at life in America. And for nearly seven weeks, they risked their lives inside cramped compartments in the cargo hull of a rusty fishing boat.

As their boat crossed the Pacific, the 10 Chinese passengers were forbidden from moving without permission from the captain, an imposing figure who demanded they call him “Boss.”

The voyage ended Thursday at about 2 a.m., when the men were ordered on deck and told to swim ashore. If the boat tried to dock, the crew told them, they would all be caught.

The account of the men’s 7,000-mile journey is based on their interviews with immigration officials and made public Tuesday as federal prosecutors charged the vessel’s captain and engineer with smuggling immigrants into the United States.

But the captain and the engineer gave a vastly different story about how the 10 men came to paddle ashore north of Laguna Beach, naked and clinging to makeshift floats.

Handcuffed and clad in blue sweatpants, the captain, Jin Yinn Wang, said in federal court Tuesday that he never intended to steer near California.

“The ship was brought here, I was kidnapped, and that’s all I know,” Wang said in Mandarin.

Wang laid out a more extensive version of events shortly after he was detained by immigration officials Thursday. According to court documents, Wang said that he and his first mate were alone shark fishing 600 miles off the Hawaii coast when they picked up the 10 men as crew members.

Wang said the new crew hijacked their boat, the Fu Ching. When the boat arrived off Laguna Beach, Wang said he was bound and locked inside a storage room. He told investigators that the men stole his ring, equipment and cash before jumping overboard.

Wang said he managed to free himself and tried to send a mayday broadcast for help. U.S. Coast Guard officials said they were not aware of any mayday calls sent.

But the agency mounted a search for the Fu Ching after police found the boat’s name on lifesaving equipment the 10 immigrants had left behind. Coast Guard helicopters caught sight of the boat about 100 miles from San Diego. Authorities ordered the Fu Ching to stop, but it failed to comply.

After boarding the boat, the Coast Guard officials examined a global positioning system aboard the vessel. The instrument showed the Fu Ching had touched land off Laguna Beach, close to where the men swam ashore.

Three weeks earlier, the owner of the Fu Ching had notified Taiwanese authorities that he had lost contact with the vessel. But Taiwanese officials say they never could determine if the crew had been hijacked or simply stopped communicating with the owner.

Acting on the report, the California Department of Justice recently issued a teletype notifying law enforcement agencies that the boat “may have been hijacked by 10 Chinese nationals,” according to court records, which were filed by INS investigators.

Authorities said it’s far from the first time that boat captains accused of smuggling immigrants have claimed they were victims of a mutiny.

In many cases, the master of the vessel reports being forced to let the crew off near the coast of Canada, Guam or California, where they try to enter illegally.

Such mutinies provide sea smugglers with a convenient alibi if caught by immigration officials, said Ko-Lin Chin, professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University and author of “Smuggled Chinese.” He estimated that only one in every five claims of a mutiny turns out to be legitimate.

U.S. prosecutors are also treating the mutiny tale with skepticism, preferring to believe the accounts offered by the 10 immigrants.

In interviews with INS officials, most of the men said they paid $10,000 in total for the trip, though who exactly received the money remains unclear. Some of the men said they handed $2,000 over in Taiwan. A smaller boat then took the men to the Fu Ching, where they paid more money, ranging from $1,800 to $8,000.

None of the men have asked for political asylum and will probably be deported, though federal officials could decide to use some as witnesses against the Fu Ching’s crew.

Both crew members appeared in court Tuesday, their hands shackled to waist chains, their faces looking tired. They both face one count each of smuggling illegal immigrants, a charge that carries a maximum of 10 years per immigrant transported.

Jin Long Guo, the ship’s engineer and first mate, wore an oil-stained sweatshirt and said little as U.S. Judge Arthur Nakazato ordered him and Wang detained. They are scheduled to enter a plea June 10.

The two men, who are Taiwanese nationals, are being monitored by representatives from the Taiwan government.

“We’re working with INS, and we are very pleased with the treatment they are getting,” said Andy Tseng, a spokesman for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles.