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Press Releases
Big trouble in little China – How faked DVDs fund the Chinese people smugglers
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A 91Èȱ¬ South East Today investigation into counterfeit DVDs reveals tonight (Monday 1 October, 6.30pm) on 91Èȱ¬ One, that the illegal trade helps fund people smuggling and has found links to the former vice president of London's China Town Chinese Association.
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Kent-based Jia Jin He, a leading light in the capital's Chinese community, owns several businesses and properties across London and has previously been investigated for fraud and for activities thought to be linked to people smuggling.
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91Èȱ¬ South East undercover reporters stumbled across the links to the Orpington businessman as they investigated a Chinese DVD counterfeit ring operating across Kent.
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The team worked for more than a year investigating the exploitation behind the Chinese counterfeiting trade in Britain after following traders selling fake DVDs at a Swanley boot fair. A reporter infiltrated a squalid home where a number of illegal immigrants lived and found widespread breaches of immigration law.
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During their surveillance operation the team found that a property owned by Mr He in Elephant & Castle, south London was being used as an illegal house of multiple occupancy – providing a home for up to 20 individuals. They also discovered that the man who transported the pirate DVD sellers to the weekend boot fairs, Chun Lin, was employed by Mr He during the week.
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The trader's car was followed to a house in Plumstead, south-east London, where an illegal immigrant called Li Wan Liu, who has been prosecuted for three counterfeiting offences, told 91Èȱ¬ South East Today that he owed £5,000 to a snakehead gang – groups who charge Chinese families thousands of pounds to smuggle their relatives into Britain.
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"I have no job, and no food so this is the only way I can support myself. Snakeheads smuggled me here," said Liu.
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He said he came to Britain fearing persecution in China, his family helped him pay the snakeheads their £15,000 fee, and the DVDs fund his repayments. It is thought crackdowns on illegal working have forced people into the counterfeit DVD trade. The report also found that often illegal immigrants lied about their reasons for seeking asylum to gain entry to Britain.
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Mr He is due to stand trial in Hong Kong tomorrow (2 October) accused of money laundering offences. He denies any wrong doing. However this is not the first time he has been investigated for illegal practices.
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In 1999, a Greek court convicted Mr He of attempted fraud in a case thought to be linked to people smuggling. Two years later he was arrested by the National Crime Squad as part of a people smuggling investigation. He was released without charge.
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Mr He declined 91Èȱ¬ South East's requests for an interview but during a telephone conversation he said he did not know his employee was involved in counterfeiting, and he would not employ someone who did that.
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Mr He said he rented the Elephant & Castle property to four people who let more and more people stay without his knowledge. He had issued a warning and then kicked them out.
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Chun Lin, who repeatedly drove the DVD sellers to and from boot fairs in Kent, said he did not know his passengers were counterfeiters and was only responding to their requests for a lift.
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You can see the full 91Èȱ¬ South East investigation into how buying counterfeit DVDs is helping to fund the sometimes fatal trade in people tonight, Monday 1 October at 6.30pm on
91Èȱ¬ One South East.
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