Word: pinging
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...roof. She has erected other buildings in town as well. The once mud-slicked and unremarkable farming village is now dotted with flamboyant villas and pavilions, proof of the largesse of former residents who have made it big in the U.S. thanks to the auspices of Sister Ping. There is even a school set up to train future illegal emigrants in English. In Shengmei, local officials grown rich off her investments and enterprises in the village helped ensure her protection from even Beijing's reach...
...Kong, one from the U.S. and one from Belize. Authorities say she has managed to make several visits to the U.S., where her son and husband continue to reside. Meanwhile she has allegedly explored new routes and techniques for getting people into the U.S. Police and immigration officials say Ping and other snakeheads have made an alliance with Serbian officials and now funnel several planeloads of immigrants a day through Belgrade to Europe and the U.S. One new method the snakeheads allegedly pioneered is the use of cargo containers to smuggle people. Last month 58 Chinese suffocated in a container...
...checking passenger lists of flights from Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport to New York. On the April 17 flight they spotted the name of her son. More than 40 agents from the Hong Kong narcotics bureau staked out the airport and waited. Around noon, they saw Sister Ping wandering around the airport. At first she denied she was Ping, but after she was fingerprinted she admitted her identity. She was carrying her three passports when she was arrested. An Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman boasted that the "arrest showed even the most mythic are not immune." An extradition...
...even after her arrest, it is not hard to find people who adore her. Ming Wang, a restaurant worker in New York City, says he lost his job because he injured his legs and was desperate for help. "A friend told me to go to Sister Ping. I told her my story, and she gave me $2,000. She said 'little brother, take this and pay me back when you can.' I still owe her $1,200, but she never asked for the money." Says Song Lin, a restaurant worker: "She is even better than Robin Hood because he stole...
Even Steven Wong, the anti-snakeheads activist who has worked with the Coast Guard interviewing survivors of smuggling trips, says Ping was never like the other snakeheads. "I have no doubt she is a good person," he says. "The Fujianese don't see human smuggling as a crime. They see it as a necessary service. When the gangs took over, Sister Ping argued that those who were coming had paid money and should be treated fairly, as clients, not prisoners." He says he once interviewed her and she claimed she only helped her relatives come to the U.S. "I have...