WITH the Chinese New Year around the corner, many are choosing to make one last shopping trip to Hong Kong before heading back to their hometowns, with some even taking the risk of using illicit travel documents.

    A woman was caught at Futian Checkpoint on Sunday when she attempted to cross the border to Hong Kong with someone else’s travel pass.

    The woman, identified as Chen, was caught using another’s travel pass to Hong Kong and Macao at the checkpoint.

    Chen said that she decided to go to Hong Kong to shop on the spur of the moment. Since she had not brought her Hong Kong travel permit, Chen borrowed her relative’s travel pass.

    Chen was given an administrative punishment.

    Chen was not the only one caught using another person’s travel pass to go to Hong Kong. Another woman surnamed Lin was also recently detained at Luohu Checkpoint.

    Lin said that she wanted to purchase infant formula for her child, but found that her visa to Hong Kong had expired. It would take a few weeks for her to mail her travel pass back to her hometown for a new visa. So Lin borrowed her sister’s travel pass.

    People occasionally try to trick immigration officers by using another person’s permit, but the officers always detect the most subtle differentiation, even between twins. Last year, a woman was punished for using her twin sister’s photo ID. (Zhang Qian)