Even as the overall number of immigration offenders dipped to a 13-year low last year, the number of harbourers and employers of these offenders arrested rose sharply.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in its annual statistics report released on Wednesday that 2,530 such offenders were nabbed last year – a 2 per cent drop from 2,580 in 2012.
Among them were 600 illegal immigrants – down from 690 in 2012 – and 1,930 overstayers who did not have the proper papers, up from 1,890 in 2012.
But the number of people arrested for harbouring immigration offenders tripled from 77 to 2012 to 233 in 2013, while that for employers of such offenders more than doubled from 41 to 97 over the same period.]
source: straitstimes.com
