Todd Salimuchai
Encyclopedia
Todd Salimuchai is a self-described Thai
or Burmese
former opium poppy
farmer, best known as the only man to ever attempt an aircraft hijacking
at the Hong Kong International Airport
.
. Any information about his early life comes only from his own statements. He says he is a Lisu tribesman from a 200-person village called Hazen in the Golden Triangle
on the border of Thailand
and Myanmar
. His parents died when he was young, leaving Salimuchai and his two elder brothers as orphans. His native language is Lisu
; he learned some English as a young man from American soldiers and other travelling expatriates as a child. He also says he learned how to fly small helicopters. Though he claims not to have used drugs himself, his village was heavily involved in the drug trade, growing poppies for sale to a Hong Kong drug lord who would come with payment once every year.
One year, instead of cash payment, the drug lord brought a check for US$800,000. The villagers reluctantly and suspiciously accepted the check, but banks refused to encash it. The village elders decided to send Salimuchai and another young man to Hong Kong to search for the drug lord and resolve the issue. Salimuchai and his accomplice were flown by helicopter to a port and became stowaway
s on a Hong Kong-bound freighter. Disoriented after their landing in Hong Kong and unable to speak the local language, they searched for the drug lord fruitlessly for three months while staying in a safe house. Salimuchai was eventually arrested during a police identity check in Wan Chai
.
. Hong Kong Immigration Department
officers interviewed him, but due to his limited English made little headway in determining who he was or whence he came. They ordered his continued detention pending removal to "a place to be specified". That place turned out to be mainland China
; in early 2000, he was placed on a bus with mainland immigration offenders and sent to Shenzhen
, told by police officers that he was going home. While in the mainland, he claims to have suffered electric shock
torture and beatings over a period of forty days in two different jails. He was also given a Chinese name
. Afterwards, he was deported back to Hong Kong, and again detained.
In May 2000, Salimuchai was released from immigration detention. With just HK$2,000 which his friend had left for him at the safe-house, Todd had no way of putting a roof over his head. He ended up homeless
, sleeping on the street and collecting paper and cans in Wan Chai to sell to recyclers and earn money for his survival.
aircraft. The aircraft, which had just arrived from Taipei
as flight CX451 and was being prepared to fly to Paris
and then London
as flight CX261 at 11:35 PM, was empty at the time. After a two-hour siege, Salimuchai surrendered to police. No one was injured in the course of the incident; however, 372 passengers' travel plans were disrupted, and Cathay Pacific had to pay for 363 of them to be put up in local hotels.
At the time, security guards at Hong Kong International Airport checkpoints were unarmed; in the aftermath of Salimuchai's hijacking (and another incident the next day in which a 19 year old airport worker carried a fake gun and five bullets into the airport's cargo centre in what he claimed was an attempt to play a prank on a colleague) it was proposed that they be armed. Salimuchai was sent to Tsuen Wan District Court. There, he pled guilty to charges of false imprisonment
and using a fake firearm with intent to commit an offence, and in February 2001 was sentenced to five years in prison. In prison, he came into contact with many former drug users, and developed a sense of remorse, as he felt he had contributed to their problems. In 2004, he wrote to the Immigration Department to declare that he wanted to integrate into the Hong Kong community. He attained early release in December 2004.
, but was rejected as he was not a Hong Kong resident
. Prohibited from working by the immigration department, he relied on charity from private benefactors (including an unidentified high-level government official) and local non-governmental organisations such as Inner City Mission, which provided him with free meals. In November 2005, he made a petition to Chief Executive Donald Tsang
that he be allowed to work while awaiting repatriation, but it went unanswered. He also applied for assistance with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
. However, they rejected his request because he did not qualify as a refugee
; he was not in fear of persecution in his home country, but instead actively sought to return there and was blocked because he could not convince any country to grant him admission. His case attracted attention from various local and international organisations such as the Belgium
-based Human Rights Without Frontiers
; human rights lawyer Mark Daly began working with Salimuchai on his case.
In late 2007, Salimuchai filed a suit in the High Court
against the immigration department. The suit, the first of its kind to be brought in Hong Kong, alleged inhumane treatment and violation of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance (1991) and the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
. He also sought to overturn the prohibition against employment that had been imposed on him. The immigration department for their part complained that Salimuchai had been uncooperative in telling them where he was from, hindering their efforts to aid him. In April 2008, Salimuchai reached an amicable settlement with the government, in which the Immigration Department gave him permission to take up employment.
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
or Burmese
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
former opium poppy
Opium poppy
Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the species of plant from which opium and poppy seeds are extracted. Opium is the source of many opiates, including morphine , thebaine, codeine, papaverine, and noscapine...
farmer, best known as the only man to ever attempt an aircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
at the Hong Kong International Airport
Hong Kong International Airport
Hong Kong International Airport is the main airport in Hong Kong. It is colloquially known as Chek Lap Kok Airport , being built on the island of Chek Lap Kok by land reclamation, and also to distinguish it from its predecessor, the closed Kai Tak Airport.The airport opened for commercial...
.
Early life
Like many members of tribal peoples in border areas of Southeast Asia, Salimuchai has no identity documents attesting to his birth date or place of origin, making him effectively statelessStatelessness
Statelessness is a legal concept describing the lack of any nationality. It is the absence of a recognized link between an individual and any state....
. Any information about his early life comes only from his own statements. He says he is a Lisu tribesman from a 200-person village called Hazen in the Golden Triangle
Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)
The Golden Triangle is one of Asia's two main illicit opium-producing areas. It is an area of around that overlaps the mountains of four countries of Southeast Asia: Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Along with Afghanistan in the Golden Crescent and Pakistan, it has been one of the most...
on the border of Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
. His parents died when he was young, leaving Salimuchai and his two elder brothers as orphans. His native language is Lisu
Lisu language
Lisu is a tonal Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Yunnan , northern Burma , and Thailand and a small part of India. It is the language of the Lisu minority. Lisu has many dialects that originate from the country in which they live. Hua Lisu, Pai Lisu, and Lu Shi Lisu dialects are spoken in China...
; he learned some English as a young man from American soldiers and other travelling expatriates as a child. He also says he learned how to fly small helicopters. Though he claims not to have used drugs himself, his village was heavily involved in the drug trade, growing poppies for sale to a Hong Kong drug lord who would come with payment once every year.
One year, instead of cash payment, the drug lord brought a check for US$800,000. The villagers reluctantly and suspiciously accepted the check, but banks refused to encash it. The village elders decided to send Salimuchai and another young man to Hong Kong to search for the drug lord and resolve the issue. Salimuchai and his accomplice were flown by helicopter to a port and became stowaway
Stowaway
A stowaway is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as an aircraft, bus, ship, cargo truck or train, to travel without paying and without being detected....
s on a Hong Kong-bound freighter. Disoriented after their landing in Hong Kong and unable to speak the local language, they searched for the drug lord fruitlessly for three months while staying in a safe house. Salimuchai was eventually arrested during a police identity check in Wan Chai
Wan Chai
Wan Chai is a metropolitan area situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area north of Gloucester Road is often called...
.
In and out of prison
Following his arrest, Salimuchai was sent to Victoria PrisonVictoria Prison
Victoria Prison , or Victoria Gaol was Hong Kong's first prison. A testimony to the evolution of Hong Kong's correctional services, it had been the centre of the local prison system until it ceased operation in December 2005....
. Hong Kong Immigration Department
Immigration Department (Hong Kong)
The Immigration Department of the Government of Hong Kong is responsible for immigration control of Hong Kong. After the People's Republic of China assumed sovereignty of the territory in July 1997, Hong Kong's immigration system remained largely unchanged from its British predecessor model...
officers interviewed him, but due to his limited English made little headway in determining who he was or whence he came. They ordered his continued detention pending removal to "a place to be specified". That place turned out to be mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
; in early 2000, he was placed on a bus with mainland immigration offenders and sent to Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
, told by police officers that he was going home. While in the mainland, he claims to have suffered electric shock
Electric shock
Electric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....
torture and beatings over a period of forty days in two different jails. He was also given a Chinese name
Chinese name
Personal names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name first and the given name next, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John-Paul"...
. Afterwards, he was deported back to Hong Kong, and again detained.
In May 2000, Salimuchai was released from immigration detention. With just HK$2,000 which his friend had left for him at the safe-house, Todd had no way of putting a roof over his head. He ended up homeless
Homelessness
Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
, sleeping on the street and collecting paper and cans in Wan Chai to sell to recyclers and earn money for his survival.
Hijacking attempt and reimprisonment
On 31 July 2000, at his wits' end, Salimuchai took a fake pistol and went to the Hong Kong International Airport, planning to hijack a helicopter and fly himself back home. Upon arrival, he snuck in using a loading dock staff entrance, forced his way through security into the airside area, and took a female cleaner hostage. However, he saw that the helicopters were far away and much larger than the ones he knew how to fly. Quickly changing his plans, he instead boarded a Cathay PacificCathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport, although the airline's registered office is on the 33rd floor of One Pacific Place...
aircraft. The aircraft, which had just arrived from Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
as flight CX451 and was being prepared to fly to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and then London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as flight CX261 at 11:35 PM, was empty at the time. After a two-hour siege, Salimuchai surrendered to police. No one was injured in the course of the incident; however, 372 passengers' travel plans were disrupted, and Cathay Pacific had to pay for 363 of them to be put up in local hotels.
At the time, security guards at Hong Kong International Airport checkpoints were unarmed; in the aftermath of Salimuchai's hijacking (and another incident the next day in which a 19 year old airport worker carried a fake gun and five bullets into the airport's cargo centre in what he claimed was an attempt to play a prank on a colleague) it was proposed that they be armed. Salimuchai was sent to Tsuen Wan District Court. There, he pled guilty to charges of false imprisonment
False imprisonment
False imprisonment is a restraint of a person in a bounded area without justification or consent. False imprisonment is a common-law felony and a tort. It applies to private as well as governmental detention...
and using a fake firearm with intent to commit an offence, and in February 2001 was sentenced to five years in prison. In prison, he came into contact with many former drug users, and developed a sense of remorse, as he felt he had contributed to their problems. In 2004, he wrote to the Immigration Department to declare that he wanted to integrate into the Hong Kong community. He attained early release in December 2004.
Post-release
Salimuchai's troubles did not end with his release from prison. The immigration department took his fingerprints and tried to verify his identity with various countries in order to arrange for his deportation, but failed. 17 countries refused him entry as an asylum-seeker, mainly due to his criminal record. He furthermore applied for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance from the Labour and Welfare BureauLabour and Welfare Bureau
The Labour and Welfare Bureau is an executive agency of the Government of Hong Kong responsible for employment, labour development, poverty reduction and social welfare.in Hong Kong.The bureau is managed by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare...
, but was rejected as he was not a Hong Kong resident
Hong Kong residents
Hong Kong residents , also called Residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. According to Hong Kong Basic Law, Residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region include permanent residents and non-permanent residents...
. Prohibited from working by the immigration department, he relied on charity from private benefactors (including an unidentified high-level government official) and local non-governmental organisations such as Inner City Mission, which provided him with free meals. In November 2005, he made a petition to Chief Executive Donald Tsang
Donald Tsang
Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, GBM, KBE is the current Chief Executive and President of the Executive Council of the Government of Hong Kong....
that he be allowed to work while awaiting repatriation, but it went unanswered. He also applied for assistance with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
. However, they rejected his request because he did not qualify as a refugee
Refugees in Hong Kong
Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifies that "everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum abroad from persecution."At the end of April 2006, the UN refugee Agency, also called the UNHCR stated that there were 1473 asylum seekers in Hong Kong waiting for a decision....
; he was not in fear of persecution in his home country, but instead actively sought to return there and was blocked because he could not convince any country to grant him admission. His case attracted attention from various local and international organisations such as the Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
-based Human Rights Without Frontiers
Human Rights Without Frontiers
Human Rights Without Frontiers is a non-profit organization based out of Brussels, Belgium, that promotes human rights around the world. It has offices in Belgium, Nepal, and China.- History :...
; human rights lawyer Mark Daly began working with Salimuchai on his case.
In late 2007, Salimuchai filed a suit in the High Court
High Court (Hong Kong)
The High Court in Hong Kong consists of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance. It deals with criminal and civil cases which have risen beyond the lower courts. It was named the Supreme Court before 1997.- High Court Building :...
against the immigration department. The suit, the first of its kind to be brought in Hong Kong, alleged inhumane treatment and violation of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance (1991) and the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
-Surrounding events:The United Nations Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights were approved on 10 December 1948. Of significance, the Declaration at Article 15 affirms that Everyone has the right to a nationality....
. He also sought to overturn the prohibition against employment that had been imposed on him. The immigration department for their part complained that Salimuchai had been uncooperative in telling them where he was from, hindering their efforts to aid him. In April 2008, Salimuchai reached an amicable settlement with the government, in which the Immigration Department gave him permission to take up employment.