Hong Kong police arrest 19 Pakistani men over entering city illegally, including 9 rescued from deserted island after being stranded for 2 days without supplies
- Police investigate possible links between two separate cases involving 19 Pakistani men, and one from mainland China, allegedly arriving illegally on boats from Shenzhen
- Nine people in one case were found on deserted Shue Long Chau in Sai Kung without food or water, with police saying they were believed to have spent two days there
Hong Kong police have arrested 19 Pakistani men and a suspected mainland Chinese trafficker over entering the city illegally, including nine rescued from a deserted island where they are believed to have been stranded for two days without supplies.
The force revealed the two separate cases on Monday, with one involving the group of nine that was on its way from Shenzhen to Hong Kong but was found stranded on Sunday on Shue Long Chau in Sai Kung.
The other case involved 10 Pakistani men and a mainlander who were intercepted in Deep Bay, in the northwestern waters of the city on Monday.
All 19 Pakistanis were arrested over illegally entering the city, along with the suspected human trafficker from mainland China, who was also detained for helping them.
The nine found stranded were being detained at Sai Kung Police Station. The 11 others were being held at Tin Shui Wai Police Station for questioning, a spokesman from the force said.
Police are investigating whether the two cases are related.
In the Sai Kung case, a local fisherman contacted police at around 6.30pm on Sunday after he had heard cries for help coming from Shue Long Chau, the spokesman said.
Trio arrested over illegal entry after rescue from boat in Hong Kong waters
Marine police located the men on a rocky shoreline on the island and said they believed they had been stranded for two days without food or water.
The men, all Pakistani passport holders aged between 21 and 44, were in good health and did not require hospital treatment.
A police source said they first flew from Pakistan to Urumqi, capital of mainland China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on Wednesday before taking another flight to Guangzhou and then proceeding to Shenzhen.
The men later took a small boat to Hong Kong and arrived in city waters on Friday evening, the source said.
In the other case, the group of 10 had come to the city by a similar route, police said. The men, aged from 22 to 49, travelled from Urumqi to Shenzhen where they boarded a small blue vessel powered by an outboard engine.
2 food couriers arrested over accounts sold to illegal workers in Hong Kong
A man from the mainland was also on board, who police suspected of arranging illegal entry for the group.
Marine police spotted the boat lingering around Nei Lingding Island in Shenzhen waters at around 6.30am on Monday, before it entered Hong Kong waters.
Officers chased the boat and intercepted it in Deep Bay.
Late last month, eight individuals from Pakistan, India and Afghanistan were arrested over illegal entry to the city.
Some were found wearing life jackets and floating off Tai A Chau Island, part of the Soko Islands near Lantau, before being located by authorities following a 13-hour search.
