A total of six people caught working illegally in Hong Kong each received 15-month jail terms in two different courts on Friday and Saturday.
The Sha Tin Magistrates Court and Tuen Mun Magistrates Court heard the cases.
On April 10 Immigration Department officers and police arrested two Indonesian women aged 32 and 34 while they were washing dishes in a restaurant in Kowloon’s Jordan, according to a government release. The women claimed to be asylum seekers and one was also found to be using a forged Hong Kong identity card.
In a second case, on April 11 officials also arrested two illegal female immigrants from Vietnam, aged 28 and 44, who were working in restaurants in Kowloon’s Sham Shui Po and Tsim Sha Tsui.
One day later, two male asylum seekers from Pakistan, aged 26 and 29, were caught loading goods at an industrial estate in Kwai Chun in the New Territories on April 12. The men were also suspected of using and being in possession of identity cards belonging to other people.
All six received 15-month prison sentences. Three employers suspected of employing the illegal workers were also arrested and the investigation is ongoing.