SINGAPORE: Over the last three years, about five foreign workers go missing each week on average.
On Saturday morning, Channel NewsAsia was at the scene when an employer who found his missing worker, handed him over to the police.
Once they saw the
missing foreign worker, employer James Ng's staff held on to him while
security personnel called the police. Mr Ng then took a photo as
evidence.
Shortly after, six officers arrived in three police cars to conduct investigations.
Mr
Ng said his 42-year-old worker is from Anhui, China, and had run away
from his dormitory in Geylang in April. Mr Ng alleged that his worker
had gone to work illegally for another construction company.
The
worker was interrogated for three hours at Jurong industrial estate
before he was brought to the police station. He is expected to be
deported within a week.
Mr Ng said employers are liable for
missing workers, and they may face legal repercussions, if workers get
into any accident. He added that he is still trying to find three other
missing workers, all from China, and is offering a reward of S$2,000 for
each of them.
Mr Ng said: "The workers say they've lost a lot of
money, so they can't go back to work. And when another company offers
them a higher pay, they go there to work instead."
It is illegal for employers to recruit missing workers, and those who do so may get caned or jailed.
In
a reply to Channel NewsAsia, the Manpower Ministry said the number of
foreign workers who go missing is not large. It said that between 2008
and 2010, fewer than three out of every 1,000 workers in Singapore go
missing. This amounts to about 250 cases annually.
The ministry
said a worker is considered missing if he is not repatriated once his
work permit is cancelled, and most of these workers were eventually
found and repatriated.
-CNA/ac
wo....3 hours..
interesting!
Singapore can run away meh? Pretty silly to even think of attempting it. Our land mass is not like China or India....hope they know that.
i thot 5 die each week