In the 1990s, before Hong Kong was reverted from British to Chinese control, [. . . . ]
Day after day, people lined up at the Canadian High Commission in Hong Kong, waiting to apply for visas. Many of those seeking landed immigrant status were people looking to come to Canada for the right reasons, but according to former Royal Hong Kong Police Chief Detective Inspector Sandy Boucher, Canada was also gaining a reputation in organized crime circles as a haven for those mixed up in shady dealings.
“We knew that many of our organized crime figures -- people with records, people without records but serious criminals – were looking to move to Canada,” says Boucher.
But while Canadian authorities are supposed to keep those kinds of people out, in Hong Kong, something appeared to be going very wrong. “Some applied (for visas) and were turned back, some applied and got in,” says Boucher. “It was no secret.”
One such immigrant was Lee Chau Ping, a notorious drug trafficker who is known as the Ice Queen. In 1992, after police raided her labs and one of her safe houses, the Ice Queen got on a plane headed for Canada. Not thinking that the Canadian government would let her stay, Boucher assumed the Ice Queen had headed oversees to wait for the heat on her gang to die down a little. So he was shocked when an RCMP officer told him she had been granted landed immigrant status.
“I said, ‘It can’t be – she’s got a criminal record. I know she’s known to Canadian authorities.’”
But apparently, Lee Chau Ping – who posed as a businesswoman ready to invest $170,000 in a Chicken Delight franchise in a tiny town in northern Saskatchewan – had slipped under the radar. And Brian McAdam, the immigration control officer at the High Commission in Hong Kong, soon learned that other criminals had too.
“I discovered that these Triad people (members of secret Chinese organized crime fraternities that have ties to members of the Hong Kong business community) were regulars at getting visas to visit their families or go on holidays as the case may be, and yet clearly on the file was intelligence information identifying who they were.”
Link for the rest.
Check my archives for a lengthy series of other background articles, from Feb. 24/25, Mar. 1, 04 and more.
Thanks to Jack for the above corruption article. Look at his site, at the top, and don't miss the link to this.
Jack's Latest Thought: "Paul Martin's wild-eyed chimps are thinking of using attack ads warning Canadians that 'Attila of Alberta'is dark and scary. They're right -- he is -- IF you're a wild-eyed chimp!"
The CBC is vicious now; every chance they get to tar Stephen Harper with negatives, they do. They are so amateurishly obvious. There is not a hint of balance nor trying to give Canadians the policies of each political party. Not the CBC! They know their bread is buttered with Liberal pork fat. NJC
