"A special task force unit on combating illegal migration detained them as they were fitting a road kerb at Ushanov square," the head of the media relations section of the East Kazakhstan Regional internal affairs department’s language policy directorate, Larisa Polomoshnova, said as quoted by the website.

"They arrived from Uzbekistan on 18 May after passing via the Kaplanbek border checkpoint. They obtained immigration cards, but did not have a work permit," she said.

The report said that foreigners were being hired while 2,500 locals in Ust-Kamenogorsk were seeking employment.