Korean, 5 Chinese aliens
By Jaymes K. Song
nabbed at Honolulu Airport
Star-BulletinU.S. Immigration officials today arrested a 43-year-old man from Korea and five Chinese nationals he allegedly smuggled into Honolulu Airport with counterfeit passports.
The six, three men and three women, traveled aboard a China Airlines flight to Honolulu, said Donald Radcliffe, district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
They were arrested at immigration checks at 9:30 a.m.
The five, from mainland China, had passports issued to Korean individuals. The pictures on the passports had been altered, Radcliffe said.
The five Chinese spoke Korean, but not well enough to fool a Korean-speaking INS inspector.
The inspector "detected a problem with their language," Radcliffe said. One of the five then admitted to possessing a counterfeit passport.
The five will be interviewed today before INS officials present the case to the U.S. attorney's office.
The Korean man faces attempted alien smuggling charges. If convicted, he faces two years in prison for each alien.
The five Chinese nationals were arrested for attempted illegal entry into the United States and possession of a counterfeit passport. They face deportation.
"It's pretty constant," Radcliffe said. "Not a week goes by" that something similar doesn't happen, he said.
