An enforcement team will be established for more speedy and robust anti-illegal worker operations, Director of Immigration Lai Tung-kwok says.

Speaking at the department's year-end briefing today, Mr Lai said that last year investigators conducted 7,659 operations and arrested 17,102 people, comprising 15,727 illegal workers and 1,375 employers. Compared with figures in 2003, the number of operations rose 33.5% while arrests fell 3%.

"These figures have reflected the effectiveness of our intensified enforcement actions," he said, adding that the new squad's main duties will be to conduct undercover patrol duties at black spots and to take immediate action upon reports of illegal workers.

Cross-boundary flow

Mr Lai said last year 195.56 million passengers and cross-boundary vehicles passed through the control points, up 17.72% from 166.13 million in 2003.

Lo Wu remained the busiest control point with an average daily volume of about 245,000. The highest figure of 396,532 was recorded on April 3, the day before the Ching Ming Festival.

Passenger traffic at air and sea control points also soared to 24.2 million and 21.4 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 28% and 15.1%. Up to the end of 2004, the total number of individual Mainland visitors reached 4.93 million. They accounted for 35.2% of Mainland visitors. An additional 161 posts have been created for the boundary control points to cope with the increases in traffic.

With the provision of additional manpower as well as internal redeployment of resources, a tactical squad of 88 officers has been set up. Apart from enhancing passenger clearance at Lo Wu, the squad will also assist in enforcement operations against immigration offenders.