The Director of Immigration outlined two trends at the Department's Review 2002. The number of illegal immigrants continued to fall, but illegal employment of Mainland visitors has grown more rampant.

Lai Tung-kwok noted that 5,362 illegal immigrants were arrested in 2002, a daily average of 15. That's down 35.6% from 2001's 8,322 arrests, a daily average of 23.

However, Mr Lai said, 12,908 illegal workers were arrested last year, 23.6% more than in 2001.

A series of TV and radio announcements, "Don't hire illegal labour", will air from today, to raise awareness of the consequencs. If convicted, the offence carries a maximum fine of $350,000 and three years in prison.

To fight the illegal employment problem, the Department conducted 3,580 operations in 2002 that led to the above arrests. It also teamed up with the Police in 38 anti-vice joint operations last year and arrested 2,303 suspected prostitutes, mostly from the Mainland.

Immigration will continue to work closely with the Mainland and exchange information to tackle the problem, Mr Lai said.

It will also remain vigilant at the airport. To protect Hong Kong from being used as a transit point for illegal migration, the Airport Investigation Group conducted 3,806 flight operations last year, inspecting departing passengers' travel documents at boarding gates and 7,375 spot checks on passengers inside transfer areas.

It detained 1,577 people and 987 of them successfully prosecuted for offences relating to the use of forged travel documents. Their prison sentences ranged from one to 17 months.