Steve Quayle News Alerts

September 26, 2002
Adrian Humphreys, National Post

A Chinese national illegally crossing into the United States was rescued from the treacherous waters of the Niagara River early yesterday, but fears remain that others, including a Canadian possibly guiding them across, might have perished when their flimsy inflatable raft capsized.

United States Border Patrol officers were aboard a boat in the lower Niagara River, between Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., and Lewiston, N.Y., about 3:30 a.m. yesterday when they heard cries for help, officials say.

The officers found a man struggling to stay above water.

"He was nearly exhausted at the time. He was very cold, tired and treading water when they found him," said Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Bill Adams, with the U.S. Border Patrol.

When he was pulled aboard, he told the officers he had been aboard an inflatable raft with three others when it capsized in the middle of the river.

"We had a search and rescue effort going on the river with about every agency with a boat," said Assistant Chief Adams.

While Canadian and U.S. police searched the banks on both sides of the river, including a helicopter flying overhead, the rescued man was taken to hospital, where he was treated and released into the custody of U.S. immigration officials.

Niagara Regional Police were called to assist with the search, said Sergeant Paul Granton, a police spokesman. They found two suspects, both believed to be Canadians, nearby. They were arrested and turned over to the RCMP's Integrated Border Enforcement Team.

They are suspected of helping the raft set off from shore.

U.S. officials soon found an upended raft downriver, but there were no signs of other migrants, said Assistant Chief Adams.

The Chinese national then told officials he had been lying about others being aboard.

"No one was found and the alien has since said he was alone on the raft. There was another guy working with him who stayed on the Canadian side; the guy helped him in and pushed him off the shore," said Assistant Chief Adams.

"It is all a puzzlement to me. The case is still developing," he said.

If this crossing followed the standard smuggling pattern, however, there would have been two or three other migrants and likely a Canadian river guide on board at the time it capsized, said a human smuggling specialist.

"A guy who blurts it out when he thinks he is drowning, who would have been in fear for the lives of the other travellers who were possibly his friends, is more believable than a guy who later thinks he better protect the others," said Richard Dickins, a retired assistant commissioner with the RCMP and former police advisor to the United Nations in South East Asia. He is researching human smuggling for an upcoming book.

"The natural thing is to tell the truth when you are under extreme stress.

"I would think it is highly likely that there were others involved and they have been lost. Often the bodies are never recovered from the Niagara. It is a weird thing in that river. It is like socks in the washing machine; they seem to disappear."

The river has strong opposing currents near the mighty falls that make it a risky passage.

"They cross at night using poor equipment in pretty treacherous waters without a motor -- usually with just a paddle. There is no keel on these things, nothing to give it stability," said Mr. Dickins.

The snakeheads who arrange secret passage for people out of China and into the U.S. usually have them passed from one co-conspirator to the next in a lengthy chain until they reach New York City.

There is usually a man from the Niagara area on board to paddle them across, pass them to colleagues on the U.S. side, and return with the raft, he said.

The rescue took place in almost the exact spot on the river where four illegal migrants and alleged snakeheads from New York City were arrested in April.

The four Asian migrants came ashore aboard a flimsy raft and were found soaking wet and covered in mud after clambering up a riverbank.

"There are millions of dollars to be made by moving people around the world," said Ed McCabe, Supervisory Special Agent with the Anti-Smuggling Branch of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Snakeheads have apparently returned to using the dangerous river passage smuggling route because other Canada-U.S. border crossings have become so much tighter following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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