The Intermediate People's Court of Nanjing on Monday began hearing China's largest people smuggling case involving 42 suspects, who are accused of illegally organizing or transporting Chinese people abroad.

Among the accused smugglers, 10 were charged with organizing the criminal activities by public prosecutors from the Intermediate People's Procurator ate of Nanjing, who read a 70-pagepublic indictment at the court in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, east China.

Chen Wenshu, a native of Putian County, in east China's Fujian Province, is regarded as the primary suspect who led eight others in smuggling hundreds of local people out of the country between1998-2000.

Except for Chen and Yang Yiyang, another ringleader who was also accused with organizing and transporting the illegal immigrants, the remaining 40 suspects were all working for ocean-going companies or ship-owners, mostly as company directors, captains or sailors.

In November 2001, the Chinese authorities began to trace and arrest these suspects, after the incident of "The Fuyuan", a Chinese ship which was detained by the Japanese coast guards on Nov. 25, 2000 on its voyage from Xiamen, Fujian, to Japan.

The Japanese coast guards caught 17 illegal immigrants from Fujian and arrested eight sailors and five people who came to meet the immigrants. Later all the eight crew members were sentenced to jail.

The case is so complicated that the trial may take 10 days or more, according to court sources.

(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2002)