TNAG-0888-FCO40-1098-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 93

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.