The government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) announced Monday that it had closed 43 local premises suspected of providing accommodation illegally.

The government's Cross-departmental Working Team has checked 369 premises since August 13 when the law on "Prohibition of Providing Illegal Accommodation" took effect, the government said.

To date, the operation involved more than 369 occupants, among whom 205 were occupants of premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally and were investigated, the government said. Among the occupants, there were five overstayers and one illegal immigrant.

Following the raid to premises suspected to provide accommodation illegally, the authorities also began sanction proceedings on involved operators, touts and managing staff, and adopted provisional measures to cut the supply of water and electricity to the concerned premises.

Under the new law, operators and person who manage the premise that provide accommodation illegally incur a penalty up to 800,000 patacas (100,000 U.S.dollars), touts can be fined up to 100,000 patacas and occupants who fail to cooperate are fined 3,000 patacas.