Disguised Chinese man to be released
Posted Feb 11, 2011 05:33:31 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The young Chinese man who gained access to Canada by getting on a plane disguised as an old man has been ordered released.
The refugee claimant will first have to put up a five-thousand dollar bond and live with a family friend who agreed to post that cash in the Toronto area.
Immigration adjudicator Anita Merai Schwartz told the man he was easily swayed by his smugglers, but that influence could be mitigated by his bond holder.
The board was told at earlier hearings that the man’s family paid about 30-thousand dollars for him to be smuggled into Canada and the family still owed the debt.
Other than the very unique way he came into Canada, Merai-Schwartz said the man’s case isn’t much different from many other refugee claimants who enter Canada every year.
Eight people have been arrested in Hong Kong for allegedly helping to smuggle the man on to a plane bound for Vancouver.
