Hong Kong police arrest 2 Indian men over illegally entering city, after stopping them at MTR station

Hong Kong police arrested two Indian men on suspicion of illegally entering the city after stopping the pair at a railway station in the New Territories on Tuesday.

The two men, aged 18 and 29, were walking towards the concourse of Tin Shui Wai MTR station on Ping Ha Road when officers stopped them for an identity check, according to a police spokesman.

He said the duo were unable to produce identification documents and were arrested on suspicion of illegal entry to Hong Kong.

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The two suspects have been taken to Tin Shui Wai Police Station, where they are being held for questioning.

Figures from the force show 968 non-Chinese people, mainly from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam, were arrested for illegally entering Hong Kong in the first 10 months of this year, doubling the figure of 482 in the whole of 2022.

Among those caught this year, more than 100 people from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan were rounded up in seven incidents between October 22 and October 31.

Police said on a Facebook page last week that they had noticed an increase in arrests of non-Chinese people trying to get into Hong Kong illegally since August, largely using sea routes from mainland China.

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A surge in the arrest of people from South and Southeast Asian countries over illegal entry in recent months has prompted local authorities to seek help from their mainland counterparts.

Hong Kong and mainland authorities arrested more than 120 suspects in two places during a joint operation targeting people smuggling between November 4 and November 6.

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Most of the arrivals first travelled to the mainland by flight, then came to southern cities such as Shenzhen where they sneaked into Hong Kong by boat.

A group of Bangladeshi men arrested in one operation last month told police they had paid more than HK$55,000 (US$7,040) each for the voyage from their homeland.

In Hong Kong, organising passage to the city for illegal entrants is punishable by up to 14 years in jail and a HK$5 million fine.