'Customers' and 'worshippers' at a temple site and a restaurant turned out to be labour officers cracking down on illegal workers. In the past couple of months, undercover officers have nabbed four Indians at a curry house in Chungking Mansions, Tsim Sha Tsui, and eight mainlanders at a temple in the New Territories. Labour inspector Choy Wing-cheong, who led the curry house raid last month, said officers went to the restaurant a few days before to check the floor plan as 'there are so many exits there'. 'Four inspectors posed as customers and deliberately ordered food that took a while to cook, so that they could confirm who actually worked in the restaurant,' Mr Choy said. As a result, four Indians were sentenced to six months in jail for working illegally, but the restaurant owner, who was not on the premises during the operation, was acquitted due to lack of evidence. In October, a dozen inspectors entered a temple in the New Territories posing as worshippers and arrested eight illegal kitchen and renovation workers. 'The place is huge - more than 10,000 square metres, so it took us quite a while to identify the workers,' acting chief labour inspector Eva Kwok Wai-ling said. 'As it was a religious place, we also had to keep the profile of the operation as low as possible.' Ms Kwok said the department was still questioning contractors in connection with the case. The temple operators were not believed to be involved in the illegal employment. Senior labour officer Ernest Ip Yee-cheung said most of the illegal mainland workers caught recently came from Guangzhou, Guangxi and Fujian . 'Often, they work as salesmen, waiters or waitresses, kitchen or cleaning staff, foot massagers and renovation workers,' he said. By December 19, the Labour Department had arrested 733 employers and employees over illegal employment. For the whole of last year, there were 755 arrests. Mr Ip said people hiring illegal workers faced a maximum penalty of three years in jail and a HK$350,000 fine.
