Alleged people smuggler freed on bail after claiming he was on a fishing trip

One of two men charged with alleged human trafficking has told a court he was in Queensland for a planned fishing trip.

Taiwanese Chien-Wen Peng, 34, was detained by Border Force officers in a supermarket car park near Weipa in Far North Queensland on Tuesday and charged at least five people with aggravated human trafficking the same day.

Applying for bail in the Carins Magistrates’ Court on Friday, duty lawyer Rowan King argued that the case against Mr Peng relied heavily on circumstantial evidence and that there was no clear link to the trafficker networks yet identified by investigators.

Mr King told the court: “This is a circumstantial case… there is a real affinity for these people coming into the country illegally.”

“There is no evidence that my client is involved with any organisation, is connected to any established network or has access to a network that could smuggle him out of Australia.”

Mr King told the court Mr Peng was found with fishing equipment and told officers he was in Queensland to fish.

“In these cases, people often make these types of applications… (where there is no fishing hook),” he said.

Hao Wang, a 30-year-old Chinese man, was also detained under the Immigration Act on Tuesday and later charged with aggravated human trafficking of at least five people and appeared in court for the first time on Friday morning.

The maximum penalty for human trafficking is 20 years in prison; The mandatory minimum sentence is five years in prison and a mandatory non-parole period of three years if convicted.

The men allegedly picked up about 10 foreigners, believed to be from China, from a boat off the Cape York Peninsula and landed them near the Pennefather River.

The pair were seen on CCTV from the Heritage Shopping Center in Weipa before being escorted out by Australian Border Force officers.

Mr King argued his client was entitled to bail as he did not have “shown cause”, which would require him to prove why his continued detention was not justified.

He said Mr Peng had been living in Australia under a legal visa since 2011 and completed his Australian citizenship by taking the citizenship test on July 20 this year.

“He works as a painter, he is self-employed,” Mr King said

“He has no children… he lives with his wife.”

The duty lawyer said neither Mr Peng nor his wife, an Australian citizen, had any criminal history.

The court was told the couple had been living in a rented property at Berala, near Lidcombe in Sydney’s west, for about a year and Mr Peng had lived in the area since arriving in Australia.

The lawyer argued there was no evidence that Mr Peng would flee the country or fail to appear in court.

“The defendant is a 34-year-old man with no criminal history and is not gainfully employed,” he said.

“The risk of non-appearance can be reduced to an acceptable level with conditions.”

Commonwealth prosecutor Christopher Moore argued that “police have concerns that he may continue to organize attempts to smuggle people into Australia”, and investigations into suspected links to smuggling organizations continued.

“At this point this is a strong circumstantial crown case but this defendant is alleged to have played a role in the recruitment and movement of illegal non-citizens in Australia,” he said.

Mr Moore told the court that Mr Peng rented a car in Cairns and drove to Weipa, where he stayed at the hotel with 10 non-citizens in a hotel room booked under Mr Wang’s name.

“(Co-defendants) also rented cars from the same place at the same time, and these cars were detected in some areas of Weipa in the days before the detection,” he said.

Due to his lack of criminal history and Mr Peng’s strong ties to the Australian community, acting magistrate Raimund Heggie granted conditional bail.

As part of his bail, Mr Peng agreed to return to his Sydney address, abide by a nightly curfew, report to police three times a week, inform police of his whereabouts during the course of his work, surrender his passport and travel documents to the court, not enter any international airports or leave the state of NSW, and not to contact any other defendants involved in the alleged incident or any prosecution witnesses, including ten non-citizens.

Mr. Wang’s duty lawyer, Amelia Doolan, told the court that her client would not apply for bail because he planned to become a special representative in the future; However, it was noted that he could request bail in the next situation.

Mr. Wang’s matters were postponed until July 16 to give him time to seek private counsel.

A summary of evidence on both matters was ordered to be delivered to the defendants by September 3, and their cases were ordered to be heard on October 1.

Earlier this week, Member for Chef David Kempton said authorities had since contacted the remaining foreigners allegedly smuggled into Australia.

“I understand from the authorities that 10 to 12 illegal immigrants on board were captured near the Albatross Hotel in the middle of Weipa county,” he said.

Home Secretary Tony Burke confirmed that the group of refugees who arrived by boat were later deported.

“Anyone trying to enter Australia without a visa has now been removed,” he said in a statement on Thursday.