Five Detained in Rural NSW Compliance Operation
Media Release - DPS 52/2003
Five people are in immigration detention following a compliance operation in the Griffith area of western New South Wales, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) confirmed today.
The operation from 5-7 August was conducted by Immigration officers with the assistance of the NSW Police.
As a result of the operation five unlawful non-citizens were detained, comprising one Indian male and three men and one woman from Fiji.
Three were located at residential addresses, one was picked up at Yenda, 15kms east of Griffith and one presented himself at the Griffith Police Station.
The group has been transferred to Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, where they will be held until they are removed from Australia, as required by law.
DIMIA officers, often with assistance from state police, make regular visits to workplaces in many parts of Australia, including 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 2002-03 financial year to 31 May the Department located 19,070 people who had either overstayed or breached their visa conditions - an increase of 10 per cent over the 2001-02 financial year when the Department located 17,307 overstayers and people breaching visa conditions around Australia.
8 August 2003
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