HANOI: A joint investigation led by the task force of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Chiba Prefectural Police has countered 5 Vietnamese nationals in suspicion of smuggling other Vietnamese people into Japan to have them work as they ranked off much of their wages.
The five suspects, including Le Thi Ha Lan, 49, and her common-law husband Nguyen Van Vinh, 54, stand accused of violating the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.
According to the sources, Le came to Japan in 2000 as the spouse of a Vietnamese man who had permanent resident status in Japan, and she too obtained the right of permanent resident.
The five are suspected of taking advantage of a system under which those confirmed to be relatives of foreign nationals with permanent resident status in Japan can acquire resident status in the country to smuggle about 40 Vietnamese nationals into Japan. The group then allegedly had them work at construction sites and restaurants among other places.
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Chiba Prefectural Police is probing the allegations that the ring collected approximately 2.5 to 4 million yen from each of the illegal immigrants as “immigration fees,” netting over 100 million yen in total.
Among the five, Le is specifically accused of falsely reporting two Vietnamese women as the daughters of a man she married only on paper in Vietnam, and helped them obtain certificates that they are qualified for resident status and enter Japan at Narita International Airport in July 2008.
Le and Nguyen denied their involvement in that particular case. However, the two Vietnamese women arrested over the case have admitted to the allegations, the sources said. “We came to Japan on the promise that each of us pay the suspects 4 million yen,” one of them was quoted by the sources as saying.
Le apparently cooperated with a broker in Vietnam to solicit acquaintances to smuggle themselves into Japan on condition that they pay a portion of their monthly wages to her as immigration fees.
Le managed the illegal immigrants’ bank accounts in which their wages were remitted to make sure that she collected the “immigration fees.” She is suspected of taking around 50,000 yen each from the workers’ monthly salaries and handed over the remainder to them.
Many of these illegal immigrants took several years to pay back debts to cover their travel and immigration expenses, but at least one of them was forced to hand over more money after the ring threatened to reveal that their resident status was fake.
