Posted: March 31, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
A federal grand jury in Los Angeles earlier this month indicted a Singapore national on seven felony counts related to smuggling illegal aliens from the People's Republic of China into the U.S., federal records show.
The man was caught by South Korean authorities trying to do the same thing with three different Chinese aliens last year. After authorities intercepted him, he was deported.
This time, Hway Hong Ow is accused of trying to escort three Chinese nationals through U.S. customs with fake Singapore passports. Ow and the three Chinese aliens entered the U.S. on Feb. 19 at Los Angeles International Airport on KLM Flight 601.
Due to the previous alien smuggling charge in South Korea, Ow faces a five-year mandatory minimum sentence if convicted of the charges.
All three Chinese nationals are from the Fujian Province and are being held as material witnesses in the case.
On Feb. 20, Ow appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rosalyn M. Chapman, and was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal's Service.
Then on March 5, a federal grand jury for the U.S. District Court for the Central District Court of California indicted Ow on six counts related to smuggling aliens into the U.S. and one count of making a false statement to authorities.
Several U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Los Angeles International were involved in the case, including Maria Parra, Stephen Sens, Pete Acosta, David Chen and N. PangPang.
