MLA and Womens Aid voice suspicions over "trafficking ring"
A Chinese man who was jailed for life for murdering a woman in Belfast may have covered up his involvement with a ring which trades women and children for sexual slavery, it is claimed.
Women's Aid and Alliance MLA Anna Lo had both followed the case of Qu Mei Na very closely since her remains were found in a bin bag in the boot of a car in north Belfast in 2004. And both were sceptical of the story of the man found guilty on 5 February, Chang Hai Zhang, 28. He argued that Qu Mei Na was his girlfriend and that he had killed her after finding out that she was involved in prostitution.
But Anna Lo, a member of the Chinese community and an Alliance MLA, is sceptical. "I really don't believe the man's plea," she said. "At the time of the murder it was widely believed in the Chinese community that the woman had been trafficked and that she had been trying to get out of prostitution. My question is, was this man trying to protect some sort of a trafficking ring by telling the court he was only her lover?"
Anna Lo said police sources had confirmed to her that there up to 70 brothels in Northern Ireland being run by paramilitaries and so-called Chinese Snakehead gangs (triad gangs).
One source in the Chinese community said that the shaved heads of the two men accused of murdering Qu Mei Na, Zhang and his cousin Pang Yang, were well-known signs of triad membership. He also said there were many young and very attractive girls coming and going to Northern Ireland from China in suspicious circumstances and associating with suspected triad figures. Pang Yang was jailed for five years for assistting his cousin.
Anna Lo said she had been informed that male and female children as young as 11, and women, were being smuggled into Northern Ireland from eastern Europe, Africa and the Far East. Many are tricked into prostitution and told their families at home will be murdered if they do not comply.
Women's Aid published the first research into people trafficking in Northern Ireland, which was dedicated to Qu Mei Na. "On the face of it al the factors in her case would point strongly to trafficking," said spokeswoman Annie Campbell. "She was a vulnerable foreign national involved in prostitution and we have real difficulty believing women in that position end up doing that by choice."
In recent weeks the PSNI made two arrests in relation to an alleged brothel in Belfast and another in Dromore Co Down. The arrests are part of a UK-wide operation to rescue women enslaved in prostitution, Pentameter II.
* See Women's Aid report on trafficking in Northern Ireland, which was dedicated to the memory of Qu Mei Na.
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