interested in religion. They have no beliefs. All they want is money. Thatâs the bottom line. Theyâre gangsters, but on a huge scale.
âHave you ever bought an illegal DVD? The chances are that it was manufactured and distributed by a snakehead. And the profits theyâll have made out of it will have gone straight into one of their other concerns, which you may not find so amusing. Maybe itâs drugs or slaves or body parts. You need a new kidney or a heart? The snakeheads operate the biggest market in illegal organs, and theyâre not fussy about where they get them or even if the donors are deceased. And then there are weapons. In this century alone, there have been at least fifty wars around the world that have used weapons supplied by the snakeheadsâ¦shoulder-launched missiles, AK-47s, that sort of thing. Where do you think the terrorists go if they want a bomb or a gun or something nasty and biological that comes in a test tube? Think of it as an international supermarket, Alex. But everything it sells is bad.
âWhat else can you buy? You name it! Paintings stolen from museums. Diamonds mined illegally using slave labor. Ancient artifacts plundered from Iraq. Elephantâs tusks or tiger skin rugs. A few years ago a hundred kids died on the island of Haiti because someone had sold them cough medicine that happened to contain antifreeze. That was a snakeheadâand I donât think they offered anyone their money back.
âBut the biggest moneymaker for the snakeheads is people smuggling. You probably have no idea how many people there are being smuggled from one country to another all around the world. These are some of the poorest families in the world, desperate to build themselves a new life in the West. Some of them are fleeing hopelessness and starvation. Others are threatened in their own countries with prison and torture.â Brooke paused and looked directly at Alex, fixing him with his sightless eyes. âHalf of them are under the age of eighteen,â he said. âAbout five percent of them are younger than youâand theyâre traveling on their own. The lucky ones get picked up by the authorities. What happens to the rest of themâ¦you donât want to know.
âIllegal immigration is a huge problem for Australia, and the people smugglers just make it worse. The immigrants want to break in, and the smugglers sell them tickets. Many of them start in Iraq and Afghanistan. They come in boats from Bali, Flores, Lombok, and Jakarta. Whatâs sad is that my country used to welcome immigrants. We were all of us once immigrants ourselves. All of thatâs changed nowâand I have to say, the way we treat these people leaves a lot to be desired. But what can we do? The answer is, we have to stop them from coming. And one of the main ways to do that is to take on the snakeheads face-to-face.
âThereâs one snakehead in particular. It operates throughout Indonesia, and itâs more powerful and more dangerous than any of them. As it happens, we know the name of the man in charge. A certain Major Yu. But thatâs all weâve managed to find out. We donât know what he looks like or where he lives. Twice now, weâve tried to infiltrate the organization. We put agents inside, pretending to be customers.â
âWhat happened to them?â Jack asked.
âThey both died.â It was Damon who had answered the question.
âAnd so now I suppose youâre thinking about sending Alex.â
âWe have no idea how our agents were uncovered,â Brooke went on. It was as if Jack hadnât spoken. âSomehow this manâYuâseems to know everything weâre doing. Either that, or heâs very careful. The trouble is, these gangs operate under a system known as guanxi. Basically, it means that everyone knows everyone. Theyâre like a family. And the fact is, a single agent, coming in from outside
âHave you ever bought an illegal DVD? The chances are that it was manufactured and distributed by a snakehead. And the profits theyâll have made out of it will have gone straight into one of their other concerns, which you may not find so amusing. Maybe itâs drugs or slaves or body parts. You need a new kidney or a heart? The snakeheads operate the biggest market in illegal organs, and theyâre not fussy about where they get them or even if the donors are deceased. And then there are weapons. In this century alone, there have been at least fifty wars around the world that have used weapons supplied by the snakeheadsâ¦shoulder-launched missiles, AK-47s, that sort of thing. Where do you think the terrorists go if they want a bomb or a gun or something nasty and biological that comes in a test tube? Think of it as an international supermarket, Alex. But everything it sells is bad.
âWhat else can you buy? You name it! Paintings stolen from museums. Diamonds mined illegally using slave labor. Ancient artifacts plundered from Iraq. Elephantâs tusks or tiger skin rugs. A few years ago a hundred kids died on the island of Haiti because someone had sold them cough medicine that happened to contain antifreeze. That was a snakeheadâand I donât think they offered anyone their money back.
âBut the biggest moneymaker for the snakeheads is people smuggling. You probably have no idea how many people there are being smuggled from one country to another all around the world. These are some of the poorest families in the world, desperate to build themselves a new life in the West. Some of them are fleeing hopelessness and starvation. Others are threatened in their own countries with prison and torture.â Brooke paused and looked directly at Alex, fixing him with his sightless eyes. âHalf of them are under the age of eighteen,â he said. âAbout five percent of them are younger than youâand theyâre traveling on their own. The lucky ones get picked up by the authorities. What happens to the rest of themâ¦you donât want to know.
âIllegal immigration is a huge problem for Australia, and the people smugglers just make it worse. The immigrants want to break in, and the smugglers sell them tickets. Many of them start in Iraq and Afghanistan. They come in boats from Bali, Flores, Lombok, and Jakarta. Whatâs sad is that my country used to welcome immigrants. We were all of us once immigrants ourselves. All of thatâs changed nowâand I have to say, the way we treat these people leaves a lot to be desired. But what can we do? The answer is, we have to stop them from coming. And one of the main ways to do that is to take on the snakeheads face-to-face.
âThereâs one snakehead in particular. It operates throughout Indonesia, and itâs more powerful and more dangerous than any of them. As it happens, we know the name of the man in charge. A certain Major Yu. But thatâs all weâve managed to find out. We donât know what he looks like or where he lives. Twice now, weâve tried to infiltrate the organization. We put agents inside, pretending to be customers.â
âWhat happened to them?â Jack asked.
âThey both died.â It was Damon who had answered the question.
âAnd so now I suppose youâre thinking about sending Alex.â
âWe have no idea how our agents were uncovered,â Brooke went on. It was as if Jack hadnât spoken. âSomehow this manâYuâseems to know everything weâre doing. Either that, or heâs very careful. The trouble is, these gangs operate under a system known as guanxi. Basically, it means that everyone knows everyone. Theyâre like a family. And the fact is, a single agent, coming in from outside
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