Sydney Chinese national Hao Wang denied bail over alleged people-smuggling operation

Magistrate Michael Dalton denied bail to Hao Wang after the Sydney-based Chinese national was charged with bringing ten illegal Chinese migrants ashore near Weipa on the Cape York Peninsula. Prosecutors say Wang drove a rental car over 800 km from Cairns three days before the arrivals and that the migrants were discovered in a room at the Albatross Hotel he had reserved. The defence argued the case was weak and that Wang was merely on a fishing excursion, but the magistrate dismissed the excuse, noting the lack of any fishing experience and the improbability of novice anglers in that area.

One outlet and Border Force officers arrested Wang on the grounds of being an unlawful non-citizen, and the Commonwealth prosecutor warned that even if bail were granted, the immigration minister would likely move him to detention. Wang, who arrived in Australia in 2012 without a valid visa for at least two years, has a three-year-old daughter in Sydney and will appear again in court on October 1.