·
- 27
Immigration investigators catch 51 illegal workers
Immigration investigators arrested 51 people suspected to have taken up unapproved employment as workers in restaurants or offices during a large- scale operation in Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei today (Thursday).
Six of them were also found to have overstayed in Hong Kong.
Of the 33 women and 18 men arrested, 29 were Filipinos, five Pakistanis, five Sri Lankans, eight Chinese, one Bangladeshi, one Indian, one Belgian and one Korean.
Among them, 28 were foreign domestic helpers and the rest were
visitors.
A Chinese woman is helping with investigation.
Acting on information, 78 officers were mobilised to check a large number of business establishments and residential premises.
A spokesman for the Immigration Department said visitors were not allowed to take up any employment, whether paid or unpaid, without permission from the Director of Immigration.
"Foreign domestic helpers should only take up domestic duties for their contract employers and are not permitted to work part-time or engage in non- domestic duties.
"Those who breach their conditions of stay will be prosecuted and on conviction, the maximum penalty is a fine of $5,000 and imprisonment for two years," he said.
People who aid and abet others to commit the offences are also liable to prosecution and penalty, he added.
End/Thursday, March 9, 1995