Mainlanders on graveyard shift arrested

Police posing as relatives about to sweep family members' graves arrested 63 mainlanders who offered to clean stones and cut grass in exchange for lai see.

The 36 men and 27 women who wore labourers' gloves and carried shovels and cans of paint approached 10 undercover officers carrying flowers and joss-sticks at Wo Hop Shek Cemetery in Fanling at 10am yesterday.

They said they charged between $20 and $50 for cleaning gravestones and cutting grass, according to Chief Immigration Officer Douglas Chan Kwok-lun.

'Surveillance over the past two weeks showed they arrived at the cemetery at about 8am and spread out,' he said.

'They had been told on the mainland there was an opportunity to make money in Hong Kong during the grave-sweeping period. We understand they could earn as much as $200 a day.'

More than 100 police and immigration officers swooped to arrest the 63 suspects, who had all breached their conditions of stay, according to Mr Chan.