imprisoned for six years by a US court yesterday.

Nai Fook Li, 30, of New York, had already pleaded guilty in US District Court in Boston on March 31 to four charges that stemmed from a "sting'' operation in which the rusting Xing Da was seized off Bermuda with more than 100 Chinese illegal immigrants jammed in its hold.

Li was one of seven people charged in the undercover operation involving the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) and the US Coast Guard's Investigative Service.

He admitted conspiring and attempting to knowingly bring illegal aliens to the United States for the purposes of commercial advantage and private financial gain, and conspiring and attempting to knowingly bring aliens into the United States at a place other than a designated port of entry.

Yesterday a US Justice Department spokeswoman told The Royal Gazette that Li, along with two other defendants, arranged in the US last year for a fishing vessel to depart Boston to meet the Xing Da which was coming from China with illegal aliens on board.

The fishing vessel was to off load the illegal aliens and bring them back to Boston but the owner of the fishing vessel was an undercover special agent of the INS.

On October 2, the Coast Guard intercepted the Xing Da with about 109 illegal aliens on board near a pre-arranged rendezvous point.

Meanwhile Li was arrested aboard the fishing vessel where he had been maintaining communication between the boat and the Xing Da .

US District Judge Robert Keeton doubled Li's sentence because he found the passengers aboard the Xing Da had been subjected to dangerous and inhumane treatment.

Judge Keeton also found that even though Li was not on the Xing Da , the unsafe and inhumane conditions aboard the ship were foreseeable.