Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990 TAG: 9005110077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Molly Aitken, who met the group of 15 at Kennedy airport April 25, told police that the seven were abducted by three Asian men who hustled them into a waiting car.
Law-enforcement authorities have been investigating the affair as a kidnapping, but have not ruled out the possibility of a defection arranged before the group left China.
"We're assuming that they're still missing and, until we see them, we won't close the case," said Armando Arrastia, spokesman for the Port Authority, which is handling the investigation.
Port Authority detectives are arranging for an independent translation of a letter received by Aitken Wednesday and plan to investigate its origin and whether it may have been fabricated or written under duress, Arrastia said.
Aitken said the letter was written in Chinese, dated Monday and postmarked in New York City. It was signed by three of the missing Chinese, who apologized for causing her trouble, she said.
"I'm feeling very happy that they're all right," Aitken said Thursday. "But I'm angry because of what they did. They made it look like they were abducted and frightened the others. They hurt a lot of people who won't be trusted in the future."
The visitors were to spend 11 months in Athol, Mass., through the efforts of Aitken, president of the World Energy Foundation, which works to bring electricity to rural projects in developing countries.
While learning techniques to use at home, the Chinese were to build a solar-powered home for themselves and an attached hydroponic greenhouse for fruits, vegetables and flowers, using no soil or conventional energy sources. The other eight Chinese are at the farm.
According to the letter, read in Chinese to The Washington Post, the peasants said they had planned to come to the United States to study agricultural technology.
"But after we got off the plane in New York, some of our friends who knew we were coming . . . came to the airport to see us" and "asked us whether we wanted to go to New York and have some fun," the letter said. "At the time, several of us were curious, so we left with our friends."
According to the letter, the peasants did not see Aitken at the airport. They had planned to spend a few days in New York and get in touch with her, it said.
It added, "But we didn't expect the situation to become so serious. We are also very scared. We are very sorry."
The letter said the Chinese are afraid to go to the farm for fear that they will be sent back to China. "If we are deported, our lives will be ruined," the letter said. It added that they do not want to go to the police.
The letter said all seven of the missing men were together and safe. It did not say where they were or what they were doing.
A four-door sedan, matching the description of the one in which the seven were seen leaving the airport, was discovered parked in Manhattan's Chinatown April 30 and ticketed for a parking violation. Port Authority police said that they had the car towed to Kennedy Airport and that no one has claimed it.
"The car provided some fingerprints that could be used to confirm that someone was or wasn't in the car," Arrastia said. However, if the three men reported to have hustled the others into the car have no criminal records or have never been fingerprinted, "the possibility of tracking them down by fingerprints would be limited," he said.
by CNB