KINGSTON, Jamaica—A Jamaican contractor has been charged with aiding and abetting the employment of persons without work permits after eight Chinese men were found working at a construction site operation in Mineral Heights, Clarendon, on Friday, April 10.

He has been identified as 39-year-old Lei Gao, a naturalised Jamaican contractor of Heifer Run, Toll Gate, Clarendon, who has been slapped with eight counts of aiding and abetting the employment of persons without work permits.

The eight Chinese men have also been charged with overstaying and working without a work permit under the Aliens Act and the Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens Act.

They are 39-year-old Tangming Gao, 46-year-old Jiquan Wu, 51-year-old Dingshun Wu, 39-year-old Xiaohua Yuan, 39-year-old Binbin Li, 50-year-old Jiancun Liu, 57-year-old Dehuli Gao, and 40-year-old Jinbo Zhang.

Reports are that between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm, Transnational Crime Investigation Division (TCID), a division within the Specialised Investigation Branch, conducted an intelligence-led operation to identify potential victims of human trafficking.

A search warrant was executed at a construction site on Mineral Heights main road in Clarendon, during which the team found eight men from Guangdong Province, China, working at the site.

The Passport, Immigration, and Citizenship Agency (PICA) later confirmed that all eight men had exceeded their permitted stay on the island.

Further interviews, conducted with an interpreter, revealed the men had been recruited in China to work for Gao.

The men appeared in court earlier Monday.