The Associated Press
SEATTLE — A Chinese citizen has pleaded guilty in a human smuggling attempt that ended when authorities found three people dead and 15 in poor health in a cargo container.
The change of plea was entered Thursday in U.S. District Court by Kam Hung Chan, 39, who said he was recruited by the smugglers to aid in the enterprise by carrying two cell phones on the ill-fated voyage.
Chan could face life in prison. Two co-defendants are scheduled for trial in December.
Chan said he was given two cell phones before getting into the 40-foot shipping container, one on which to receive a call from a smuggler in China and another to receive a call from a confederate in the United States to arrange to take the illegal immigrants to New York.
Thirst and starvation was blamed for the death of three of the 18 stowaways who were found Jan. 14 in a 40-foot shipping container aboard the newly arrived NYK Cape May.
Chan destroyed the telephones before he and the other survivors were caught. One of the other survivors died later in New York of voyage-related causes.
It was the deadliest of several incidents over several months in which smugglers used cargo containers to try to slip Chinese nationals into U.S. and Canadian West Coast ports.
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