10 Vietnamese arrested for smuggling fake alien registration certificates from China
Ten Vietnamese nationals have been arrested on charges of attempting to buy fake certificates of alien registration from a Chinese broker. gettyimagesbank
Ten Vietnamese nationals staying in South Korea illegally have been arrested on charges of attempting to buy forged certificates of alien registration from a Chinese broker, immigration officials said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Justice's Korea Immigration Service (KIS) said it has arrested a 20-year-old Vietnamese man and nine other nationals of the Southeast Asian country on charges of forgery of official documents and violation of the Immigration Control Act and referred all of them to the prosecution for indictment.
The Vietnamese nationals, whose identities were not disclosed, are accused of asking a Chinese broker to forge South Korean certificates of alien registration and send them via international express mail in order to conceal their status or avoid crackdowns.
The Incheon International Airport branch office of the KIS launched an investigation after discovering 13 forged alien registration certificates dispatched via international express mail from China between late last month and early this month, the officials said.
Based on the recipients' address and other information, the immigration office tracked down and arrested the 20-year-old Vietnamese man who was staying illegally in Incheon, west of Seoul, in early March.
The nine others were arrested from Seoul, South Chungcheong Province and other regions.
The suspects, who have stayed in South Korea for one to six years, allegedly paid 500,000 won (US$443) to 600,000 won per forged certificate to their Chinese broker via their families in Vietnam, the officials said.
The immigration office added it is still tracking down three more Vietnamese suspects in the certificate forgery case. (Yonhap)