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The Immigration Department has caught 87 immigration offenders in a territory-wide anti-illegal worker operation codenamed "Sniper".
Twenty local employers and 67 suspected illegal workers were apprehended in the two-day operation.
The operation began at 3am yesterday (November 28). At 7pm today (November 29), Immigration investigators raided 74 targeted locations including restaurants, flats under renovation, retailing shops and stalls, an unlicensed fast food production factory and an electronic goods packaging factory.
As a result, 67 people - 38 men and 29 women, aged 20 to 47 - were arrested for suspected breach of conditions of stay. Apart from two male Nepalese visitors and nine foreign domestic helpers - one Filipina and eight Indonesians, the remaining 36 men and 20 women were Mainland visitors, mostly from Guangdong.
Twenty Hong Kong residents - 10 men and 10 women, aged 29 to 58 - were also arrested on suspicion of being employers of illegal workers or aiding and abetting others to breach their conditions of stay.
The operation is continuing.
"Visitors are not allowed to take up employment, whether paid or unpaid, without the prior permission of the Director of Immigration. Offenders are liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a maximum fine of $50,000 and imprisonment for two years. Aiders and abettors are also liable to prosecution and penalty," the department spokesman warned.
"It is also an offence to employ people who are not lawfully employable. The maximum penalty is a fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years," the spokesman added.
Ends/Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Issued at HKT 20:07
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