In another controversial plan, the Justice Ministry will use electronic maps to locate foreigners believed to be staying here illegally, as well as businesses that have hired illegal workers, sources said. The system is expected to start in fiscal 2007. Immigration personnel will carry hand-held terminals showing such maps to speed up the process of taking suspected illegal foreigners into custody, they said... The ministry receives about 16,000 pieces of information annually via e-mail, letters and telephone calls about suspicious foreigners, officials said. In addition, about 19,000 foreigners around the nation in 2004 registered their names and addresses with city, town and village offices, although they did not have the proper visas...Such information is available in writing, but it has been difficult to piece that data together with the information given by informants in different municipalities, even if all the information concerns the same individual. Ministry officials said the electronic maps will combine all the information and plot the likely whereabouts of the suspicious foreigners...more...