Air Canada masked stowaway case

[3] The incident was detailed in a confidential CBSA alert titled "Unbelievable Case Of Concealment" that was leaked to the American news network CNN who made it an international story on November 5.

[7] Under questioning, many employees admitted emailing the protected “intelligence alert” to friends and family because of the “amazing” and “extraordinary” nature of the case.

[9][10] After the intelligence alert was released, Air Canada confirmed that "officials from the CBSA met a passenger arriving off AC018 Hong Kong to Vancouver on October 29 and the matter is still under investigation.

The immigration department, working in concert with the Hong Kong police's organized crime unit, arrested the unidentified eight in January 2011 as a part of an operation code-named "Sandstorm".

It was alleged that the two allowed seven passengers without the proper credentials to board flights from Hong Kong to Canada, including the masked stowaway.

They were employed as ground staff of Singapore Air Terminal Services Limited, and their duties included checking documents of passengers at the boarding gates inside the departure hall of Hong Kong International Airport.

[12][20] South China Morning Post Reported that Air Canada flight attendant Eddie Chau testified in the Hong Kong court that on flight AC-018 on October 29, "...he had been alerted by ground staff members and a passenger about the suspicious traveler's youthful-looking hands, so he and a colleague took a closer look at the man.

[25] Several others were convicted in a related case of smuggling other people from Fujian province on flights from Hong Kong to Canada.

After being arrested, the unidentified man claimed asylum and therefore could not be prosecuted for illegally entering Canada; nevertheless, he was detained for three months in a medium security prison.

"[30] At a December 8, 2010 Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in Vancouver, the man's attorney asked that he be released on bond to stay with a family friend in Ontario.

The man was ordered released on $5,000 bond to a Chinese-Canadian person with ties to his family in the Fujian Province of China, and had to report weekly to the Canada Border Services Agency in Toronto.