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Three Hong Kong residents were jailed by the District Court today (January 6) for illegal transfer of passports and related offences.
The first defendant, aged 41, was charged with conspiracy to aid, abet, counsel or procure the transfer to another without reasonable excuse travel documents, and aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the transfer to another without reasonable excuse a travel document. He was sentenced to 36 months' imprisonment.
The second and the third defendants, aged 27 and 24, were each charged with one count of transferring to another without reasonable excuse a travel document. The second defendant pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment. The third defendant was convicted after trial and was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment.
"In an operation code-named 'Sting' jointly conducted with the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau of the Police in May 2011, an immigration officer, under the guise of a prospective passport seller, contacted the first defendant in response to a newspaper advertisement. The officer was asked to meet him for the passport transaction. He was subsequently arrested and one HKSAR passport under the identity of another person was found in his possession," an Immigration Department spokesman said.
The remaining two defendants were also arrested in the operation, and they admitted to having sold the HKSAR passport to the first defendant for $600.
"The Immigration Department spares no effort in combating passport fraud and will continue to conduct such operations to tackle the issue at source," the spokesman added.
Under the laws of Hong Kong, it is an offence to transfer any travel document to another person without reasonable excuse. Offenders are liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, the maximum penalty is a fine of $150,000 and imprisonment for 14 years. Those aiding and abetting such crimes are liable to the same penalty.
Ends/Friday, January 6, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:24
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