Major policing work in the first half of 2007

Although the number of illegal immigrants arrested has been on a steady decline for the past few years, 1,543 IIs were arrested in the first six months of 2007, representing an increase of 89 IIs over 1,454 IIs in the same period last year.

The remarks was made by the Director of Operations, Mr Andy Tsang Wai-hung, today (July 24) at a press conference to review the work of the Police in the first half of 2007.

Mr Tsang said that a total of 191 Mainland IIs were arrested for criminal offences from January to June this year, a decrease of 57 over 248 in the same period last year. In addition, 216 female IIs were arrested for prostitution, a decrease of 77 over 293 arrested for such offence in the same period of last year.

In the first six months of this year, a total of 293 Vietnamese illegal immigrants (VIIs) were arrested, an increase of eight over 285 VIIs arrested in the same period last year. 154 of them were arrested for committing crimes, an increase of 22 over 132 in the same period last year. The main offences committed by them were forgery, theft and immigration offences.

Mr Tsang said since most of the VIIs entered the Mainland first and then sneaked into Hong Kong across its border with Guangdong, the Force had requested the Guangdong Provincial Border Defence Bureau to strengthen its measures against such activity.

"A total of 528 non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants (NEC IIs) were arrested between January and June this year, an increase of 504 over 24 NEC IIs arrested in the same period last year," he continued.

"Majority of NEC IIs arrested were South Asian males. The nationalities of the NEC IIs are mainly Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries. There were mainly involved in illegal employment."

Twenty-one of these NEC IIs were arrested for committing crimes, an increase of 15 over six in the same period last year. The main offences committed by them were forgery, using ID card relating to another and serious immigration offences.

"We have been taking rigorous and effective law enforcement actions to combat illegal entry activities and maintaining close liaison as well as exchanging information with the Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies. The Force will continue to monitor the situation closely with the Mainland agencies and work in coordination with them to fight against these activities," he concluded.

Regarding the crimes committed by Mainland visitors (MVs), Mr Tsang said from January to June in 2007, there were seven million MV arrivals, of which 612 were arrested for committing criminal offences, a decrease of 219 when compared with 831 in the same period. The main offences committed by the MVs were theft, forgery and serious immigration offences.

Between January and June this year, 1,576 MVs were arrested for involvement in prostitution, representing a 49 per cent decrease when compared with 3,064 in the same period last year.

The decline was mainly due to the strengthened cooperation between the Force and the Mainland authorities, imposing a stringent application process for Two-way Permits, rejecting entry of suspicious persons and conducting more raids.

For the past six months, the Force has taken a series of actions with other departments and arrested 1,185 illegal Mainland workers, which represented a decrease of 46.1 per cent with 2,197 in the same period last year.

On the enhancement of road safety, Mr Tsang said there were 7,310 traffic accidents in the first six months, a slight increase of 0.7 per cent when compared with 7,262 in the same period last year.

Both the number of fatal traffic accidents and death caused by traffic accidents registered an increase of 20.3 per cent and 19.4 per cent respectively during the periods in comparison. The number of fatal traffic accidents increased by 12 from 59 in the same period last year to 71 this year while that of traffic fatalities also increased by 12 from 62 in the same period last year to 74 this year.

The overall traffic enforcement actions taken totalled 619,084 in the first half year of 2007, representing an increase of 13 per cent when compared with 548, 166 in the same period last year. Enforcement actions were mainly targetted at offences which caused or would possibly cause traffic accidents.

"The Force will continue to work closely with other government departments, road safety stakeholder and the community, through publicity, education and law enforcement, so as to further enhance the road safety in Hong Kong," he said.

Mr Tsang also said the Police were working closely with the Equestrian Company, other government departments and relevant stakeholders involved to ensure the smooth running and success of the Good Luck Beijing - HKSAR 10th Anniversary Cup and the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian Events.

On the anti-terrorism front, Mr Tsang said at present, Hong Kong's terrorist threat assessment level remained "Moderate". The threat assessment for "Good Luck Beijing - HKSAR 10th Anniversary Competition was also "Moderate".

Mr Tsang pointed out that counter-terrorism was one of the Operational Priorities of the Commissioner in 2007. The main tactics included maintenance of effective intelligence exchanges with both the Mainland and overseas security and law enforcement agencies, timely intelligence and threat assessments and maintaining the Force's level of coverage and operational readiness commensurate with the prevailing threat level.

"The Force will conduct regular exercises of various scales and nature to hone the relevant contingency plans as well as to enhance its counter-terrorist capability and coordination efficiency," he said.

"We will also maintain the awareness of the public and the stakeholders to assist the Force in combating terrorism," he added.


Police Report No. 5
Issued by PPRB

Ends/Tuesday, July 24, 2007