Major bust: nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants nabbed by Hong Kong and mainland China police in joint operation
Southeast Asians form vast majority of the detained as authorities describe ‘very organised’ cross-border smuggling efforts
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 30 March, 2016, 2:38pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 30 March, 2016, 4:05pm
Christy Leung
Hong Kong and mainland police nabbed nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants – the overwhelming majority of them from southeast Asia and caught in China – on both sides of the border as they announced a 17-month joint operation to tackle a growing people-smuggling problem.
The swoop began in February and led Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan police to arrest a total of 2,943 illegal immigrants in three major operations involving 2,860 southeast Asians and 83 south Asians.
It was understood that Hong Kong police had given to their cross-border counterparts intelligence on 94 of the detained illegal immigrants.
Police on both sides of the border also apprehended 142 central figures from multiple syndicates involved in smuggling people to the mainland with a view to moving them to the city.
Mainland authorities added one syndicate was led by a Pakistani national with ties to Hong Kong whom they called “Tiger”.
Yin Chengjun, director of the border control department of the national ministry of public security, described the smuggling efforts as “very organised” and structured with a “clear division of labour”.
“The snakeheads in Hong Kong control their members across the continent to smuggle the immigrants to Guangdong, and sneak them into Hong Kong,” he explained.
Authorities say the main purpose of sneaking into Hong Kong is illegal employment. Photo: PRC Ministry of Public Security
The overwhelming majority of the 2,943 people were nabbed in the mainland.
It was understood that some immigrants arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport from their home countries, and were transported to Shenzhen.
In another popular route, immigrants crossed the Vietnamese border to Guangxi province to attempt their entry to Hong Kong.
“The main purpose of sneaking into Hong Kong is to take illegal employment,” said Yin. “The immigrants have also committed serious crime like thefts, robberies and drugs smuggling.”
Mainland authorities pledged to tighten border controls in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Xinjiang provinces as well as step up a joint operation with their Hong Kong counterparts to halt the flood of illegal immigrants.
The operation began on February 20 and is to run to July 20 next year.
The latest swoop came amid a growing pattern of non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants being intercepted in the past five years.
The number of illegal immigrants arrested in Hong Kong doubled to 3,819 last year from the previous year. About 90 per cent of this total were from Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
On March 20, police on both sides of the border claimed to have shut down a people-smuggling gang and arrested 109 people, many of them illegal immigrants from southeast Asia.
In that joint operation, Hong Kong authorities arrested twelve core members of a syndicate that had been active for more than six months. The gang was suspected of recruiting human cargo from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh to Shenzhen and then entering Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong government planned to target snakeheads with tougher jail sentences to stem the influx of illegal immigrants, the majority of whom, it said, would seek asylum after being arrested.
Under the proposed legislation, the maximum penalties for smuggling people from all nationalities would be raised fourfold to 14 years.
