HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A witness whose report to the police led to the arrest of a man who authorities believe arrived by boat from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands recalled seeing a group of six or seven people walking down the dirt road near Urunao on his way to go fishing with friends.
“We just saw a group of at least six to seven people just walking. They looked like tourists,” said the fisherman, who asked to remain anonymous.
Then, as they drove down the long stretch of road at around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, two Chinese women in the group managed to get the fisherman’s car to stop.
“Their English was very hard to understand, but I just remember them saying something about how they needed help, so we just told her to keep walking that way,” the man said. At the time, he pointed the group in the direction of where the entrance to Uruano begins, which was about a mile away.
“They said something about being lost and then they’re like, ‘We’ve been walking for four hours.’ “
Arrest
Before continuing to his fishing trip, the man called authorities to report the suspicious activity, which led to the Guam Police Department, Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency and the Office of the Attorney General to investigate the report. The agencies are working together to prevent unlawful arrivals into Guam by boat, according to a joint news release.
“I’m guessing they found them because the only…way out of Urunao is to go on the main road or go through Ritidian. So someone would have saw them,” the man said.
Jianfeng Lu was then arrested under suspicion of violating Guam’s arrival requirements, the release stated.
The fisherman could not recall if he saw Lu at the time, but said there were three adult women and a teenager.
Charges
On Wednesday afternoon, Lu was charged in the Superior Court of Guam with failure to acquire clearance requirements and failure to deliver a manifest to a customs officer as misdemeanors, and invalid place of unloading as a violation.
According to the magistrate’s complaint, Lu was seen driving a vehicle while officers were on the scene investigating a suspicious beach landing.
Lu told officers he piloted an inflatable boat and landed on Tanguisson Beach on May 15 and said he arrived with two others, but he alone piloted the vessel, the complaint stated.
Lu also admitted to not clearing customs and not arriving in an approved port of entry. He likewise admitted to not reporting his landing, not getting permission to offload passengers or baggage, and that the location of his departure was outside the U.S., according to the complaint.
Jianfeng Lu