13 January 2022
Three Mainland transit passengers were convicted of conspiracy to obtain airline services by deception and were each sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment at the District Court today (January 13).
The Immigration Department (ImmD) launched a series of anti-illegal migration operations at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) last year and detected an illegal migration case of Mainlanders using false Mexican permanent resident identity cards in seeking illegal entry to Mexico. In April 2021, ImmD investigators apprehended three Mainlanders including two males and one female, aged 31 to 57, inside the restricted area of HKIA. Investigations revealed that the Mainlanders arrived at HKIA as transit passengers via the sea-to-air transfer ferry service from Shenzhen Shekou Port, and attempted to obtain the boarding passes for Mexico via the Netherlands from the airline by using false Mexican permanent resident identity cards. They procured one-stop services, including false documents, air tickets, lodging and employment in Mexico from middlemen in the Mainland at the maximum cost of RMB60,000.
Moreover, two more cases of the same nature were uncovered by ImmD investigators last year, when three male Mainlanders were arrested for attempting to obtain airline services for Mexico via the Netherlands by using similar modus-operandi. They were convicted and sentenced to eight to 11 months' imprisonment earlier.
The ImmD spokesman warned that, under the laws of Hong Kong, people who, by any deception, dishonestly obtain services from another shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for 10 years.