POLICE on Monday moved in to stop a group of nine foreign workers from being repatriated. All packed and ready, they were barred from leaving for the airport.

A representative of their employer, marine services company K7 Engineering, told police that the men were being sent home because they had refused to work.

The workers had a different story: They claimed there had been no work for up to five months.

They told The Straits Times they did not want to leave before collecting the salaries due to them.

K7 had planned to repatriate a dozen men on Monday. It engaged repatriation company UTR Services, which managed to move nine workers from their dormitory in Jurong to K7's Serangoon Road office. Three workers fled.

The Straits Times understands that K7 cancelled the permits of these workers, some of whom had gone to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) last week over allegedly unpaid salaries.

A K7 spokesman told police he was unaware of a pending MOM case.

The ministry said it will call K7 soon regarding the workers' claims, and that it takes a serious view of employers who repatriate workers without settling their outstanding salaries.

Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, employers convicted of doing so may be fined up to $5,000 and jailed up to six months.

They could also be barred from hiring foreign workers.