UK immigration officials have arrested three illegal workers in Manchester following an investigation into a local business.
This week officers from the law enforcement side of what was the UK Border Agency visited Appna Cash and Carry in the Longsight area of the city and conducted checks on the staff's immigration status.
They discovered three men aged between 22 ad 24 who were working in the company illegally. Two of them were in breach of their UK visas and one had overstayed his visa. All of the individuals concerned were from Pakistan.
Colin Berrington, of the Home Office Immigration Enforcement team, said: "Illegal working fuels illegal immigration to the UK and that is why we are carrying out operations like these.
"If you are a business you must carry out the correct checks on your staff or you could end up with a heavy fine. We are happy to work with businesses to let them know what checks need to be made on staff, but those who break the law should know that they will face heavy fines."
While the men will be held in immigration detention ahead of their removal from the country, the business has additional legal issues to resolve with the officers. The company will be issued with a notice for employing the men and if it is unable to prove that the correct right-to-work checks were carried out ahead of hiring the Pakistani workers, it could be hit with a fine of up to £10,000 for each man.
The arrests come as the government has announced a six-week consultation as part of its Immigration Bill reforms in order to look into methods of making it harder for illegal migrants to work in Britain and punishing rogue employers who exploit them.