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A trafficker suspected of helping to smuggle up to 80 children into Ireland as slaves has been ordered to leave the country.

Song Bo He, 32, will be deported back to China after admitting working with the gang, who got between €10,000 and €15,000 for each child they illegally brought here.

On Friday Judge Patrick McCartan described the business student as a “local fixer” who devised a scheme where Chinese nationals would arrive in the country and claim they were underage.

Dozens of Chinese nationals went missing from HSE care between 2007 and 2009 with many of them ending up in forced labour.

Song, of Blackhall Street, Dublin 7, pleaded guilty to knowingly and without reasonable excuse committing acts with intent to impede the prosecution of others not before the court or within the State knowing such people were responsible for smuggling in illegal immigrants or asylum seekers in 2009.

Today irishmirror.ie exposes the full extent of the sordid network which extended across the globe and the Garda operation which smashed it.

We can reveal:

- Organised crime gangs in China were paid up to €15,000 for each child smuggled into Ireland

- Children were flown here via Italy and Spain with no documents or cash

- The illegal immigrants claimed they were underage but they vanished when they were brought into HSE care

- Gardai launched Operation Dignity in May 2009 after a pattern was identified at Harcourt Terrace Garda station

- Officers found many of the missing kids ended up working in Chinese takeaways for “slave” wages

- One “missing” child and three illegal immigrants were discovered when gardai searched Song’s apartment in Dublin

- Dad-of-two Song left the country after his arrest in 2009 and was deported back here from Mexico, and

- No children have gone missing in this way since Song was rumbled.

The defendant showed no emotion yesterday when Judge McCartan handed him a three-year jail term, suspended on condition he leave the country immediately.

Judge McCartan told the Circuit Criminal Court considerable sums of money changed hands while “unfortunate persons were exploited because they were desperate for work”.

He explained that Song was a local fixer who met and advised the youngsters in Dublin.

The court heard he devised the scheme where people claimed to be under 18, were taken into State care and then disappeared overnight.

Speaking after the three-year suspended sentence was handed down Det Insp Michael Cryan, who ran Operation Dignity, said their primary concern was always the children.

He added: “While some of these people may not have been underage there is no doubt many were and they were exploited. They were vulnerable and easily exploited.”

The experienced detective, attached to Pearse Street station, said: “As the judge said, the purpose of this enterprise was to make money for people. It wasn’t to make a better life for the people trafficked in.

“They were simply a commodity being bought and sold across the world. It was slavery.”

The Irish Mirror has learned Operation Dignity was launched in May 2009 following the discovery of teenager Yukun Lin at Dublin airport. He had no cash or documentation.

Like many before him Yukun claimed he was a minor and was taken to a HSE hostel in Dublin city on May 2.

He was first of all remanded into custody as he said he was an adult and later released when the HSE accepted he was a juvenile. He went missing just hours after being released from prison and placed in care.

Detectives quickly set about establishing patterns between Yukun and other Chinese youths who had entered the country illegally.

A link was found with another teenager Lin Yuhong who arrived into the country in suspicious circumstances and who vanished after three months in care in Ronanstown.

Gardai quickly established connections between 11 youths.

A source said: “All of them were found in Dublin Airport, sitting on chairs, hiding in toilets or even trying to sneak past immigration.

“They had no money or documentation and even pretended they didn’t know where they were. When asked for their age they gave a juvenile date of birth.”

The youths had boarded flights in China, travelling first through Hong Kong and then on to Dubai.

Italy was established as the gateway to Europe and from here the children were sent across the continent with many ending up in Ireland.

When Lin Youhong was in HSE care she received a text on a friend’s phone with two numbers. The first led detectives to Qin Wen Yu – a chinese restaurant owner who ran three businesses in Co Louth.

When gardai searched his premises they discovered 12 illegal immigrants working there.

He was later convicted of employing persons without work permits.

Many of the workers were being paid just €4 an hour and only for hours that customers were in the restaurant.

One female had to work for nothing for a year to pay back the money she owed to the gang for getting her to Ireland. She was later handed over to the HSE to claim asylum.

The second number officers discovered on the phone had also been dialled by Yukun Lin when he was at the HSE hostel. This number led detectives to Song.

Detectives knocked at his flat at 8A Blackhall Street on May 25, 2009.

He answered the door while his wife and young baby were also there.

Four males were also present in the apartment, one of whom was Yukun Lin.

Gardai found passports and copies of passports for people who had already entered the State claiming to be juveniles.

They also found the passport of a female who had been caught a few days earlier entering illegally and who was already in custody.

At first Song told gardai he was doing favours for friends. He then admitted he was involved in a scheme in China where arrangements were made for Chinese people to visit Ireland.

Song claimed he was getting less than €300 per person but the Irish Mirror can reveal the unemployed dad lodged €80,000 to accounts in China in the previous year.

Gardai identified links between Song and a Chinese Organised Crime Gang in Italy.

Song was released while a file was sent to the DPP but he quickly fled the country.

In early 2010 he turned up in Mexico where he was arrested at the airport travelling with a false passport.

He was duly returned to Ireland via Germany where he went to ground once again.

The trafficker may never have been brought before the courts but for the work of two eagle-eyed gardai in Crumlin.

A security source explained: “These uniformed gardai spotted this man carrying a large sack and when they searched him they found he was carrying copyright DVDs.He gave them a false name but when they fingerprinted him they discovered it was none other than Song.

“By this stage the DPP had recommended charges and he was brought into custody.”

Song has been in custody since then and he will remain here until his extradition to China.

Since his arrest in 2009 no children have disappeared in these circumstances but gardai insist their fight against the illegal trafficking continues.