Six illegal workers have been found in Barking following a raid conducted by UK immigration forces.
The team from the UK Border Agency (UKBA) visited the White Town Ltd laundry on River Road this Wednesday (January 23rd) after receiving intelligence regarding the immigration status of the staff working there.
They carried out checks on the employees and found five individuals who had overstayed their UK visas and one man who had entered the country illegally. All of the men were from Bangladesh. The first five have been detained pending their removal, while the sixth has been granted immigration bail while his travel documents are organised and he is removed from the country.
While that might be the end of the story for the workers, White Town Ltd could have more troubles to handle further down the road. It has already been served with a notice warning that it could be issued a fine of up to £10,000 for each of the illegal employees unless it is able to prove that it conducted the required right-to-work checks before taking them on.
Steve Fisher, assistant director of the UKBA, commented on the case: “Employers who take on illegal workers are both fuelling illegal immigrations and damaging the majority of legitimate businesses who play by the rules.
“That is why we have the power to hit those who break the law with heavy fines. This is the latest in a series of raids we've carried out in East London and more are planned in the future. For those who are in the country illegally there is no hiding place.”
Hundreds of companies are hit with fines for illegally employing staff without conducting checks on their documentation first. These can be easily avoided by checking an individual's work permit or passport before taking them on.