Hong Kong immigration officers arrest 15 suspected illegal workers from mainland China
- Four of those rounded up identified as illegal immigrants and 11 entered Hong Kong as visitors and stayed beyond permitted time
- Suspects allegedly paid up to twice city’s minimum wage, with raid targeting Yau Ma Tei flat suspected to be dormitory for illegal workers
Hong Kong immigration officers have rounded up 15 suspected illegal workers from mainland China allegedly paid up to double the city’s minimum wage of HK$40 (US$5) an hour to work as cleaners and dishwashers.
Deputy Commander Luk Pui-yin of the Immigration Department’s task force said four of the group arrested during a raid on a Yau Ma Tei flat on Wednesday were identified as illegal immigrants and the others entered the city as visitors but stayed beyond the permitted time.
Luk added preliminary investigations revealed that one of them had lived in the city illegally for 6½ years.
She said the workers – four men and 11 women – were detained during a dawn raid on a flat in Yau Ma Tei that investigators suspected was being used as a dormitory for illegal workers.
Officers also seized 17 bogus Hong Kong identity cards that were said by Luk to be “poor quality” and “easily distinguishable” from real ones.
“We believe the suspected illegal workers used such fake identity cards to find jobs in Hong Kong,” she said.
