Acting on information received, ICA officers have been gathering information and monitoring the activities of an illegal employment syndicate for a few months. Our officers found out that two syndicate members had arranged to meet another member at Yio Chu Kang to give him the money for the illegal workers' salary. ICA officers decided to take action against the syndicate when they meet on 13 Sep 05 at about 1045 hours. After they had parted ways at Yio Chu Kang, our officers moved in to arrest the three persons. Two of them, a male Indian national and a Sri Lankan national put up a struggle to evade apprehension but were soon caught. The other member, a Singaporean woman did not resist arrest. Following their arrests, islandwide checks were conducted at food outlets in places such as Marine Parade, Eunos, Scotts Road and Serangoon Road. Twenty illegal workers were successfully arrested by ICA officers at these premises. All of them were immigration offenders (IOs).

2 Preliminary investigations revealed that the Indian and Sri Lankan nationals supplying the illegal workers, aged 40 and 42 years old respectively, were illegal immigrants themselves. The Indian national's job was to recruit IOs and liaise with the food outlets to supply the workers. The Sri Lankan man was offered a monthly salary of $800 to collect payment from the food outlets and pay salary to the workers. The Singaporean woman, aged 41, was in charge of banking the checks issued by the food outlets for the workers.

3 The Indian national led our officers to his place of stay at Serangoon North Road. In his rented room, our officers found a laptop computer, a printer and a few stacks of blank paper with company letterhead. We also found the contractual agreements to supply labour to the various food outlets in the room.

4 The 20 IOs caught working illegally were aged between 20 and 51 years old. They were all male Sri Lankan nationals except for one, an Indian national. They were all employed to work as cleaners and dishwashers at the food outlets. The three members of the syndicates and the 20 IOs were referred to Police for further investigation.

5 Under the Immigration Act (Cap 133), the punishment for overstaying and illegal entry is a jail term up to six months and caning of at least 3 strokes. The punishment for employing immigration offenders is a jail term between six months and two years and a fine up to $6000. Employers who employed more than 5 immigration offenders may be caned for the offence.

6 Illegal immigrants pose a security problem in Singapore. Everyone has a role to play in ensuring the security and safety of Singapore. The public is advised not to provide employment or provide them with a place to stay. ICA will not hesitate to take tough actions against harbourers and employers of immigration offenders.

7 Employers can check the validity of work passes on the MOM website at: http://www.mom.gov.sg. Homeowners should also check the immigration status of their prospective tenants. They can make use of VERIFI (VERIfication of Foreigner Immigration Status) and iCHECK (Identity Card Checking Facility) to verify the immigration passes and NRICs of their prospective tenants respectively. The VERIFI and iCHECK services are available at ICA's website: http://www.ica.gov.sg.

8 To help us take action against immigration offenders, members of public with information regarding them can call ICA at Tel: 1800-391 6150 or contact the Police at 999.


END OF NEWS RELEASE

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
14 Sep 2005