refugee traffic. As government agents, they provide boats,
DSR 11C
negotiate
transportation, check passenger manifests, search boats before departure
and confiscate valuables. Before leaving from the Vung-tau area,
deportees have been required to sign a declaration saying: "I am happy
to give all this property to the Vietnamese Government The Government
is very good to give me the opportunity to see my family".
by Canals and reass
9.
•
The passage of boats from inland is cleared through provinces under separate administrations and are not subject og interference-by- éőrmat only aboard interest as by friend
Me coast are triedly escorted to avoid interference by norme pers. -patrols. People seeking to evade the controls and to make their own
way are at great risk. In December 1978 a junk which left the Ho Chi
Minh City area without permission, carrying about 220 refugees including
60 nuns and priests, was fired on by the Vietnamese authorities.
16 people survived.
Only
10.
Fees
-
1
additional to the actual passage are exacted for
Though fees vary, a rough estimatę is the
making the arrangements.
equivalent in gold of about £1,500 sterling for an adult and half for
a child. Those unable to realise such sums
secure them from relatives
overseas who make payments into foreign bank accounts through middlemen.
Refugees are officially directed to points where gold may be bought
and transactions arranged. The refugee traffic system is lucrative
to the Vietnamese Government; some estimates suggest that it is
Vietnam's second highest currency earner after coal.
11.
Some ethnic Vietnamese have been able to purchase documents from
public security officials at fees equivalent in gold of £2,800 sterling,
showing them as ethnic Chinese and therefore entitled to leave in an
fore
operation primarily aimed at expelling the Chinese community.
For Unattributable Use
12.
officials involved in organising the traffic belong to the Public Security Bureau or Cong An. They receive gold directly and fix the ima
There is evidence of
and place of departure.
ure.]
The preparati
Pact that
boats
being buTTt, Indie
Plong term plans to continue tha mundum.