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| One of the arrested riders is taken away, along with his bike |
Eight food delivery couriers were among 11 people arrested in a series of anti-illegal work operations carried out by Immigration and Labour task force officers for three consecutive days starting on Monday until earlier today, Wednesday.
An Immigration press release did not provide details about the riders, said to be aged between 20 and 45, but some news reports said five of them are Bangladeshis and three are Indians. All are non-refoulement claimants which prohibit them from taking up work, paid or unpaid, in Hong Kong.
In addition, three of them were suspected of using electric bikes for deliveries, which is in violation of traffic regulations. Immigration said it will refer the cases to relevant authorities for further investigation.
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| TAWAG NA! |
Also arrested were three local residents, one man and two women aged 19 to 45, who are suspected of selling or renting out their food delivery courier accounts to the illegal workers.
They were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud delivery platforms and of aiding and abetting the illegal workers.
Investigations reportedly revealed that the three suspected abettors had been renting out their courier accounts for up to nine months, at around $3,000 per month.
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| One of the 3 residents who allegedly rented out their courier accounts to the riders |
Immigration said that while delivery platforms require deliverymen to register using their Hong Kong identity cars, the verification process has not been strict enough.
Since January this year Immigration has arrested 13 illegal workers in the delivery sector, all of them South Asian, as a result of multiple enforcement actions.
As a result, government enforcers urged three delivery platforms to strengthen identity verification measures by adopting facial recognition systems and multi-factor authentication.
Immigration warned that anyone found working illegally can be fined up to $50,000 and jailed a maximum of two years. The jail term rises to three years if the offender is an illegal immigrant, is subject to a removal or deportation order, or an overstayer.
Aiders and abettors are also liable to arrest and prosecution.
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