Four Mainlanders have been jailed up to three years and nine months for conspiracy to possess forged Hong Kong passports and identity cards.

Liu Shiquan was convicted of one count of possession of forged travel documents and one count of possession of forged identity cards. He was sentenced to three years and nine months jail on each charge, with the sentences to run concurrently.

The other defendants were Chen Nengquan, Li Song and Chen Yunfang. They were each charged with one count of conspiracy to possess a forged travel document and one count of conspiracy to possess a forged identity card.

Chen Nengquan and Li Song received 18 months' imprisonment on each charge, with the sentences to run concurrently. Chen Yunfang was jailed for 21 months on each charge, with the sentences to run concurrently.

In a surveillance exercise at the airport in June, Immigration investigators and Police officers stopped Liu and found three forged Hong Kong passports and three forged identity cards on him.

He admitted having shown the forged passports to the other three defendants in May. The trio was later stopped and admitted they intended to go to the United States to seek work.