Three cheers: Permanent Secretary for Economic Development & Labour Matthew Cheung presents plaques to three security guards who helped the Government combat illegal employment.

In the first seven months of this year, a total of 285 employers were prosecuted for employing illegal workers and 130 of them were convicted and sentenced to immediate imprisonment. The longest jail term was 10 months.

Commending three security guards for helping the Government combat illegal employment today, Permanent Secretary for Economic Development & Labour Matthew Cheung stressed that illegal employment will not be tolerated.

Up to August 22 this year, the Labour Department had mounted 111 operations with other enforcement departments, exceeding the yearly total of 104 in 2004. The number of employers detected was 153, up 39% on the figure in the same period last year.

In addition, the Labour Department had mounted 43 operations with the Police and Immigration Department to raid suspected interior decoration sites, resulting in the arrest of 37 illegal workers and 12 employers suspected of employing illegal workers.

Three guards lauded for uncovering illegal workers

Mr Cheung presented a plaque today to three security guards who helped the Government combat illegal employment.

The three guards - Lam Koon-man, Lui Po-shan and Lo Tat-choi - work at Mei Foo Sun Chuen, each found one to three illegal interior decoration workers attempting to gain entry to the buildings with forged Hong Kong identity cards from May to July this year .

They called Police after the illegal workers entered the buildings. In one case, the contractor employing illegal workers was also arrested.