A disbanded unit of undercover agents has been reformed by the Immigration Department to weed out immigrant smuggling in the transit lounge at Kai Tak airport. The department reassigned the officers back to their stakeout posts after the South China Morning Post revealed an alarming surge in organised crime gangs using the gateway. Agents had been taken off undercover duty and put to work in uniform on counters processing passengers to help shorten queues. The Special Operations team was reinstated last week with eight members, well short of the 20 officers it had in September. A department source said extra officers would be sent undercover when resources allowed. A diplomatic source said the reformed team was already proving effective. Two illegal immigrants headed for the United States with forged passports were found in the transit area and at a check-in counter last week. The transit lounge is the crucial spot for smuggling rackets moving mainlanders to the US, Canada or Australia. In the crowded halls, a courier with legitimate travel documents and a boarding pass will hand the ticket to the illegal immigrant who has checked in for a flight to an Asian destination. Western consulates claimed that investigators failed to cut down on the smuggling racket while the team was redeployed. They claimed the officers were only working in the transit lounge periodically.
