Hundreds of illegal immigrants, mostly from Bangladesh and Pakistan, have poured into Hong Kong over the past years, using border city of Shenzhen as transit camp, according to a report by a leading Hong Kong daily.
The report, published in the South China Morning Post, said the migrants fly into the cities across mainland China and head to Shenzhen. There they pay middlemen HK$10,000-12,000 (Tk 99,893-119,868, as 1 HKD = 9.99 BDT) to take them to Hong Kong with high-speed sampans.
Each boat typically carries 10 to 12 people, and usually lands near Tai O or Fan Lau, allowing them to stay in mainland waters for most of the journey.
However, the report added that the authorities concerned try to catch the migrants after they land on the west and south coasts of Lantau.
It is not clear how many of the illegal immigrants avoid arrest. But those picked up are taken to a local police station, before being passed to an immigration centre in Tuen Mun, where asylum claims are assessed. Those who seek asylum without valid grounds are deported.
The report also said the Shenzhen link emerged, as new figures obtained by the newspaper reveal a 50 per cent year-on-year rise in the number of non-ethnic-Chinese illegal immigrants arrested in Hong Kong.
The official police figures show the number rose from 291 in the first half of last year (Jan-June 2013) to 447 in the same period this year.
Quoting a Bangladeshi living in Hong Kong, the report said the use of Shenzhen as a staging post for illegal entry to Hong Kong became popular during the past decade, as visa restrictions for South Asians were tightened. Visa-free access for Bangladeshi nationals was withdrawn in 2006.
When contacted, Secretary of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry Khandaker Shawkat Hossain expressed his disagreement with the findings of the report.
"Anyway, we have seen the report, and asked the Bangladesh Embassy in Hong Kong to look after the matter with due importance."
"Some information in the report are not clear. It can be an isolated incident, and the daily might have highlighted the incident," he added.
However, manpower recruiters and security experts suggested foolproof security arrangements in and around the country's exit and entry points to prevent local job-seekers' move to go various overseas destinations by risking their lives.
When contacted, senior vice-president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Ali Haider said there are many media reports that a number of Bangladeshi citizens, boarding on trawlers, are going to countries like Malaysia and the UAE, spending thousands of taka.
He said more than 2.0 million people annually enter overseas job market. But the overseas job destinations for Bangladeshi workers have gradually been squeezing that has probably prompted many people to choose the illegal way.
Kuwait and the UAE have already stopped taking migrant workers, and the situation in the KSA is not good also. But local job-seekers need something to earn for their livelihood, and subsequently they approach to many syndicates of human traffickers.
"So, the government should immediately address the issue very seriously, as it will definitely affect the country's image, which is a key for overseas job markets," he added.
A senior official of Bangladesh Coast Guard said the tendency of going abroad illegally through volatile sea routes is increasing. The specialized force successfully tackled a number of such risky trips over the months.
"We're patrolling round the clock. But we need more manpower and logistics to root out strong networks of the human traffickers," he said.
According to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) officials, the traffickers are using Teknaf and the Bay of Bengal for transportation. They usually carry their clients with motor boats and trawlers along the rough sea. Apart from frequent accidents, these boats and trawlers are often caught by BGB or NASAKA of Myanmar or Thai navy.
The surge in migrants from South Asian nations is the latest development in Hong Kong's long history of illegal immigration. After the end of the civil war on the mainland in 1949, an estimated million people poured across the border, often using boats or even by swimming. Although illegal, many were allowed to stay to help ease labour shortage there.
Hong Kong again became a prime destination after the Vietnam War, with nearly 200,000 "boat-people" entering the city between 1975 and 2000. About two-thirds were eventually resettled in other countries, while the final third were repatriated.
