From: Coconuts Singapore
By Tan Rou Ying
The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) recently announced a 22 percent decrease in Immigration Offenders (IO) and a three percent increase in contraband smuggling in the first half of this year as compared to the same period last year.
Among the IOs arrested from January to June 2014, 203 are illegal immigrants and 817 are overstayers. The drop in numbers could be the result of ICA’s multi-pronged approach, consisting of laws, strict border checks and public awareness programmes.
109 harbourers and 40 employers of IOs were also arrested; this is 11 percent lower than the numbers from the same period last year.
