*******************************************************
The Hong Kong Immigration Department and the Public Security Bureau of Guangdong Province (PSB) conducted joint operations in Guangdong and Hong Kong on January 22 and 23, 2007, and successfully uncovered four clandestine forgery workshops and three forgery syndicates making arrangements for Mainlanders to obtain exit documents by fraudulent means on the Mainland.
In the operations, 91 people were arrested and more than 1,000 forged documents and instruments were seized.
Acting Assistant Director (Enforcement & Litigation) Mr Yip Kim-kwan said at a press conference today (January 26) that the operations resulted in the arrest of a number of principal syndicate members and the seizure of large quantities of forged documents and instruments, including forged Hong Kong identity cards, marriage certificates, seals and Home Visit Permits.
"In order to combat the forgery syndicates working on Hong Kong identity cards, the PSB and the Immigration Department have maintained close communication in intelligence collection and exchanges," said Mr Yip.
During August 2006, law enforcement authorities in Guangdong and Hong Kong found that forgery syndicates not only provided forged Hong Kong identity cards to Mainland residents for them to cover up their identities when taking up illegal employment during their stay in Hong Kong, but even provided forged Hong Kong identity cards and documents for registration of marriage to Hong Kong residents.
The syndicates also made arrangements for them to register for marriage with a number of Mainland residents at the Civil Affairs Bureau of various counties and cities in Guangdong Province by using false identities, in order to assist Mainland residents to obtain Mainland marriage certificates and endorsements for entering Hong Kong so that they could stay for a longer period of time and work unlawfully in Hong Kong.
"To combat the above-mentioned syndicates, the Public Security Bureau of Guangdong Province and the Immigration Department have set up special task forces code-named "6.14" and "8.9" to conduct joint in-depth investigations into those syndicates that provide forgeries and obtain documents for entering Hong Kong by fraudulent means. After months of painstaking investigations, law enforcement authorities in Guangdong and Hong Kong jointly conducted the arrest," Mr Yip added.
During the operations, almost 100 law enforcement officers were deployed by the PSB and the Immigration Department respectively to search a total of 65 target areas, including 14 Mainland areas and 51 Hong Kong areas, and arrested 20 people on the Mainland and 71 in Hong Kong.
In the Mainland operation, the 20 arrested people included five Hong Kong residents and 15 Mainland residents. Also, Mainland law enforcement officers seized from four clandestine forgery workshops a batch of forged documents, including 347 forged Hong Kong identity cards, 151 forged Home Visit Permits, 172 forged Chinese resident identity cards, some 300 forged marriage registration certificates, 105 forged seals of Hong Kong and Mainland authorities as well as large numbers of forgery producing tools, such as computers, printers, scanners and card cutters.
The 71 people arrested by the Immigration Department included 16 illegal workers, five employers who are suspected of employing illegal workers and 42 Mainlanders engaged in prostitution. Investigators also arrested six Hong Kong residents and two Mainland residents who are suspected to have conspired with other people to obtain "90-day visa" endorsements by fraudulent means through marriage and by defrauding the Immigration Department.
"The Mainland Public Security authorities and the law enforcement agency of the HKSAR have been working together in combating cross-border crimes for years. The joint operation this time has successfully neutralised the syndicates active in Guangdong and Hong Kong engaging in forging documents and securing "90-day vsia" endorsements by fraud through marriage for the purpose of entering Hong Kong. This has not only manifested the professionalism of officers of the two areas in investigating and combating this kind of cross-border crime, but furthermore showed the determination of the concerned Mainland authorities and HKSAR Government," Mr Yip continued.
He reiterated that the Hong Kong Immigration Department would continue to cooperate with various law enforcement agencies to counter cross-border criminal syndicates.
Immigration investigators also took over a case from the Police on January 17 to investigate a Mainland woman who took up unlawful employment at a hair salon. The 29-year-old Mainland woman admitted to having entered into a bogus marriage with a 31-year-old Hong Kong resident on the Mainland in 2003 at the cost of 20,000 renminbi so as to apply for a "90-day visa" endorsement to enter Hong Kong and to take up unlawful employment.
According to the record of the Immigration Department, the said Hong Kong man married another Mainland woman in Hong Kong in 2005. Immigration investigators subsequently conducted a thorough investigation.
The investigators seized over 100 documents as evidence at the residential unit of the man, including a large number of copies of declarations of application for marriage, Hong Kong Birth Certificates, Hong Kong Marriage Certificates, forged Hong Kong Certificates of Registered Particulars and account books bearing the transaction particulars and the payment concerning the people who entered into the bogus marriage, suspected forged seals of Mainland notary office and Mainland certificates, etc. The department believed that the man was the middleman who arranged for bogus marriage.
In the operation, a 66-year-old Hong Kong man and a 30-year-old Hong Kong woman were brought to the Immigration Department to assist in the investigation. Investigators are trying to locate the middleman who is at large.
In the case of the bogus marriage crackdown on January 17 and the joint operation conducted with PSB on January 22 and 23, 1,200-odd forged documents and equipment for manufacturing forged documents were seized by the law enforcement departments of both the Mainland and Hong Kong.
Between April 2006, and January 2007, the Immigration Department successfully prosecuted 30 people involved in bogus marriages. They were sentenced to imprisonment for four to 21 months. The department has carried out in-depth investigations into 104 cases of the same kind and is seeking legal advice from the Department of Justice for another 29 similar cases, which are ready for prosecutions to be initiated.
Under the laws of Hong Kong, it is an offence to make a false representation to Immigration officers. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction to a maximum fine of $150,000 and imprisonment for 14 years. Aiders and abettors are also liable to prosecution and penalty.
Anyone who commits the offence of conspiracy is liable to prosecution and upon conviction, the maximum penalty is imprisonment for 14 years.
Moreover, visitors are not allowed to take up employment, whether paid or unpaid, without the prior permission of the Director of Immigration. Offenders are liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a maximum fine of $50,000 and two years' jail.
Anyone who uses a forged identity card commits an offence. Offenders are liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, a maximum penalty of a fine of $100,000 and 10 years' imprisonment.
Ends/Friday, January 26, 2007
Issued at HKT 20:15
NNNN
