Domestic helpers among 20 arrested in illegal employment crackdown

Immigration officers arrested 20 people during an operation targeting illegal immigrants and workers in Mong Kok from Sunday to Tuesday, 14 of whom were suspected illegal workers or overstayers.

During the operation, officers searched 19 target locations, including restaurants, retail shops, nursing homes, hotels, commercial and industrial building units, and public places.

The 14 illegal workers, mostly of Indonesian or Filipino nationality, aged between 28 and 50, took advantage of their weekend to earn extra money on pedestrian bridges, tunnels, or upstairs units in the Central District, according to the ImmD. Nine of them worked as massage therapists, two as manicurists, and the remaining three worked in restaurants or kitchens.

The illegal workers included 11 foreign domestic helpers, one former foreign domestic helper who had overstayed her visa, one person staying in Hong Kong as a visitor, and one person holding a temporary permit. 

The remaining six Hong Kong residents, one man and five women, aged between 30 and 60, were all owners and managers of the companies involved.

Three current foreign domestic helpers and visitors were arrested for violating their conditions of stay, all Filipino nationals aged between 38 and 46. One worked as a massage therapist, and the other two provided manicure services. A large amount of evidence was seized at the scene, including massage guns, massage oils, manicure products, and related beauty products.

It was revealed that the arrested domestic helpers, seeking extra income, secretly set up makeshift stalls using cardboard or tents in public places such as pedestrian overpasses and tunnels in the Central District on their days off, using their own beauty tools to offer massages and manicures to others from their countries at low prices, charging approximately HK$50 per session. 

The other illegal workers arrested in this operation are suspected of working as dishwashers and kitchen helpers in restaurants and hotels, and as massage therapists in commercial and residential buildings. 

The ImmD will continue to follow up on the investigation, and further arrests and prosecutions are possible. It reminds employers and domestic helpers that, according to rules and regulations, they can only perform household chores for their employers, reiterating that it has zero tolerance for illegal labor activities.