China Breaks Up Costa Rica Human Trafficking Case

The Costa Rican embassy in Beijing became suspicious after receiving visa applications all from southern Guangdong province.

Chinese police have detained two people suspected of trying to traffic about 300 mainly young people into Costa Rica, state media said on Monday.

The Costa Rican embassy in Beijing became suspicious after receiving visa applications all from southern Guangdong province who said they wished to be reunited with their parents who had moved to the Central American country, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The applicants' identity cards and birth certificates were all forged, the report said, prompting a police investigation.

"During the investigation, police officers found the parents of the applicants were all living in China and their application documents were all fabricated. Police concluded that it was an organised human smuggling case," Xinhua added.

Poice tracked down the two suspected ringleaders in Guangdong, and found "a number of forged visa application documents and an account book recording the fees they had asked from the applicants", it said.

"The two men confessed that they had colluded with 'snake-heads' overseas to attempt to smuggle youngsters to Costa Rica using fake application documents," the report added.

Xinhua did not say why the victims may have been trying to reach Costa Rica, but some Chinese attempt to find their way illegally into the United States via Central America.