A raid in west London has resulted in the arrests of a substantial number of people who were found to be in breach of UK immigration and visa laws.
Following the receipt of intelligence, officers from the UK Border Agency (UKBA) visited the Quality Foods Supermarket in Southall, London to check whether or not its staff were legally entitled to work in this country.
They discovered that a total of 25 employees had questionable UK immigration statuses and arrested the individuals concerned. Twenty-three of those arrested were from India, while one was Pakistani and another Ghanian.
The vast majority were working in breach of their immigration conditions. But a further six were found to have entered the country illegally and four were shown to have overstayed their UK visas. Steps will now be taken to remove all of the individuals concerned from the country as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Money, head of Ealing local immigration team for the UKBA, urged businesses to take responsibility and check if their employees have the legal right to be working in the UK.
She added: “Where we find people who are in the UK illegally, we will seek to remove them. But we also want to send out a strong message to employers. More raids like this are planned.”
The owner of the supermarket could face fines of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker arrested unless he can prove that the correct right-to-work checks were conducted before he hired them.