6 Captives of Alleged Smuggling Ring Remain in INS Custody

A half-dozen Chinese immigrants who had been smuggled into this country and held captive by smugglers in Monterey Park remained in federal custody on Wednesday as authorities sought to piece together the events that led to the shooting of their captors earlier this week.

Richard Rogers, district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Los Angeles, said federal and local authorities are investigating the Tuesday night incident in which one smuggler was shot to death and an alleged accomplice wounded during a struggle with an undocumented Chinese immigrant they were reputedly holding for ransom.

That immigrant--one of nine being held in a rented bungalow on Casuda Canyon Road--remained at large, along with two fellow captives, authorities said. Rogers said it appeared that they and the six in custody were smuggled out of mainland China and into this country through Hong Kong, Cambodia, Costa Rica and Mexico by a Taiwanese smuggling ring.