Hong Kong police said on Thursday that the joint operation that was held from Saturday to Tuesday was instigated by the sudden increase in non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants into the city since last year August.
Police said they have deployed non-ethnic Chinese undercover officers to figure out people who are seeking asylum in the city and working illegally as courier food delivery.
The report said the recent crackdown led to the arrest of 69 suspects, aged 21 to 79. Their offences range from conspiracy to defraud, taking paid or unpaid employment illegally, recruiting illegal labour and using false instruments, police said.
Forty-two of those arrested were traced to the food delivery industry while eighteen of them were permanent residents, who allegedly offered their identity cards to asylum seekers to set up accounts with food delivery companies and take fees from them the report said.
The illegal workers handling the accounts could earn as much as HK$20,000 in commissions and bonuses each month, it was added.
Authorities said they also seized four electric bicycles used by some of the suspects in their operations.
The Immigration Department has also vowed to clamp down on non-refoulement claimants working without approval as part of future operations.
Immigration Department added that most of the non-refoulment claimants usually take up low-skilled work like food delivery or even domestic work. “We will continue to work on this aspect and conduct more operations on this.” the Immigration Department spokesperson said.
Consequently, those charged with conspiracy to defraud and taking paid or unpaid employment illegally as part of the clampdown appeared at West Kowloon Court on Monday while further arrests were possible, the police said
According to the report, Immigration officers last year arrested 628 non-ethnic Chinese and 250 local employers as part of efforts to crack down on undocumented workers.
香港警方稱，部署非華裔便衣人員打擊非法送餐工人
香港警方週四表示，週六至週二舉行的聯合行動是由於去年8月以來進入香港的非華裔非法入境者突然增加所致。
警方表示，他們已經部署了非華裔便衣警察，以查明在該市尋求庇護並非法從事快遞食品遞送工作的人。
報導稱，最近的打擊行動導致69 名嫌疑人被捕，年齡在21 歲至79 歲之間。警方稱，他們的罪行包括串謀詐騙、非法從事有償或無償工作、招募非法勞工和使用虛假工具等。
報告稱，其中 42 人被追蹤到食品配送業，其中 18 人是永久居民，據稱他們向尋求庇護者提供身分證，以便在食品配送公司開設帳戶並向其收取費用。
據補充，處理這些帳戶的非法工人每月可賺取高達2萬港元的佣金和獎金。
當局表示，他們還查獲了一些嫌疑人在行動中使用的四輛電動自行車。
移民局還誓言，作為未來行動的一部分，將嚴厲打擊未經批准進行工作的免遣返申請人。
入境事務處補充說，大多數不驅迴聲申請人通常從事低技術工作，例如送餐甚至家事工作。 “我們會繼續在這方面開展工作，進行更多的操作。” 移民局發言人表示。
因此，警方表示，作為打擊行動的一部分，那些被指控串謀詐騙和非法接受有薪或無薪工作的人周一在西九龍法院出庭，同時可能會進一步逮捕
報導稱，移民官員去年逮捕了 628 名非華裔和 250 名當地雇主，作為打擊無證工人的一部分。
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