Five Detained Following Operation in Bendigo
Media Release - DPS 19/2003
Five people are in immigration detention following visits to residential properties and workplaces in Bendigo yesterday, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) has announced.
The five people located are in Australia illegally, one of the five was also working illegally. Of the five located one man, one woman and two children are Malaysian, and one man is British.
The group will be held at Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre until arrangements can be made for their removal from Australia.
Immigration staff carried out the visits in Bendigo following the receipt of community information that people appeared to be unlawful non-citizens.
The department conducts regular compliance operations in an effort to ensure that only people who have a legal right to remain and/or work in Australia do so.
DIMIA officers make regular visits to residential properties and workplaces in many parts of Australia, such as restaurants, farms, shops, offices, factories and brothels, in an effort to detect and locate people who are in the country illegally or who are working illegally. DIMIA may also issue warning notices to employers or labour suppliers who are found to have employed illegal workers.
In the 2001-02 financial year, the Department located 17,307 overstayers and people breaching visa conditions nationally. The number of locations has increased significantly since 2000-01, when 14,238 overstayers and people breaching visa conditions were detained.
13 March 2003
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