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Following is a question by the Hon Wong Tin-kwong and a reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (December 21):
Question:
It has been reported that an officer of the Mainland Public Security Bureau has admitted that some Mainlanders came to Hong Kong with endorsements under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) for committing crimes, and has indicated that the authorities concerned would step up cooperation with the Hong Kong Police to crack down on such criminals. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of a breakdown on the number of Mainlanders arrested since the implementation of the IVS, by the types of crimes allegedly committed by them, who came to Hong Kong with endorsements under the IVS; and
(b) how the Police would strengthen its cooperation with the Public Security Bureau of the Mainland to curb such crimes?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) Since the implementation of the "Individual Visit Scheme" (IVS) on July 28, 2003, about 1,100 Mainland IVS visitors have been arrested by the Police for committing different crimes. About 470 IVS visitors were arrested last year and about 600 were arrested between January and November this year. Among these arrested persons, 35 per cent were suspected of having committed miscellaneous and shop thefts; 16 per cent were suspected of having committed forgery and coinage offences and 14 per cent were involved in serious immigration offences (e.g. using or possessing a forged travel document or using an identity card relating to others). When compared with the total number of IVS visitors to Hong Kong, the number of arrested persons has remained at a very low level. On average, the number of persons arrested per 100,000 IVS visitors is less than 12. The number of IVS visitors arrested by the Police for committing crimes in Hong Kong, as broken down by categories of crime, is provided at the Annex.
(b) In order to tackle the problem of commission of crimes by Mainland visitors (including IVS visitors), an Inter-departmental Working Group has been set up to formulate an operational strategy with three components, including (1) securing the cooperation of the Mainland authorities in adopting a more effective and stringent process in scrutinising applications for exit endorsements for Hong Kong; (2) adopting more effective screening at various immigration control points; and (3) enhancing local enforcement.
Following this operational strategy, we have implemented various measures to enhance cooperation with the Mainland authorities. An important measure involves the setting up of a notification mechanism, under which the Immigration Department may pass information on Mainland visitors convicted of criminal offences in Hong Kong to relevant Mainland authorities so that the Mainland authorities may scrutinize their future applications for exit endorsement for Hong Kong more closely.
Besides, the Police and other enforcement agencies in Hong Kong have been maintaining close liaison and engaging in exchange of intelligence with the Mainland authorities to prevent Mainland visitors from committing crimes in Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Issued at HKT 12:45
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