British police raided a number of homes across northwest England
on Saturday in search of labor agents who were behind the 19
immigrants who drowned picking shellfish at Morecambe Bay.
Only 16 people -- two white Europeans and 14 Chinese -- survived
after the group was caught in fast-rising tides in the dangerous
bay on Thursday night.
It is believed the group included low-paid immigrant workers
controlled by unscrupulous profiteers, officials said.
It is not immediately known if anyone was arrested. But
Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell at Lancashire Police said he
was following good leads in Merseyside in northwestern England,
where officers believe the so-called "cockle pickers" came
from.
Cockles are tiny shellfish sold as a delicacy.
"It does appear that gang masters were involved in arranging
this cockle picking," Gradwell said.
"We expect to make arrests within days rather than months," he
added, noting that a number of gang members' names had been
provided to police and were being checked out.
A police statement said: "Lancashire police officers working
with their colleagues from Merseyside have made a number of visits
to addresses in and around Liverpool.
"The purpose of this is really to follow up on intelligence they
have gleaned during the course of the operation," the statement
said.
Police and immigration officers have begun interviewing some of
the survivors, who are under the care of social services, through
interpreters.
They are also trying to identify the bodies and contact next of
kin with the help of the Chinese Embassy, the Coroner's Office and
Lancashire County Council.
A Lancashire police spokesman confirmed that officers have given
up hope of finding any more survivors and the searches continuing
at sea were now more about "recovery than survivors."
In fact, people could not have survived more than about 30
minutes in the cold waters off the bay, an official told the
British Broadcasting Corporation in a report.
The Chinese were also likely not aware of the dangers they
faced.
(China Daily February 9, 2004)
