A food production factory in Brent is facing substantial fines for illegally employing overseas workers.
Colonial World Foods Ltd on the Townsend Industrial Estate was visited by UK immigration officers earlier this month.
The team questioned the staff there to determine if they had the right to be working in this country and, upon learning more of the employees' situations, arrested eight individuals for UK immigration offences, as well as one person from Sky Gourmet Group who worked on the same site.
The food production company is now facing a possible fine of £80,000. It could avoid these charges if it can prove the correct right-to-work checks were conducted before the overseas workers were hired. Sky Gourmet could also be charged with a fine of £10,000 if it is found not to have checked the UK immigration status of its employee.
Steve Fisher, head of the UK Border Agency operations in west London, commented: “Where we find people who are in the UK illegally we will seek to remove them. But we are also looking to take action against those who employ illegal workers.
“We're happy to work with businesses to let them know what checks need to be done on staff, but those who choose to break the law should know that we are out there looking for them and they will face heavy fines.”