The Macao police have nabbed 24 illegal laborers at a casino construction site, local media reported Friday.

The Macao Post Daily quoted police sources as saying that the authorities launched the swoop on the site Thursday after the Labor Affairs Bureau (LAB) received a number of complaints.

Some 70 police officers, assisted by LAB officials, conducted the raid and made identification checks on around 700 people on the spot, the sources were quoted by the newspaper.

The 24 suspects, all male aged between 18 and 50, were holding Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland travel documents, it reported.

The employment of illegal workers is a crime that incurs hefty fines and imprisonment in case of repeat offenders. Illegally employed workers are customarily ordered to leave Macao.

Macao's number of illegally imported laborers has been seeing rise in recent years and in January alone 129 illegal workers were detained.

Source: Xinhua