Three men in Huddersfield have been found to be employed without the correct UK work permit or UK visa.
The UK Border Agency found the men last Thursday (November 25th) in a tyre shop in Huddersfield, in a raid which took place as part of a nationwide campaign to tackle UK immigration crime.
One of the three was arrested for illegal entry into the UK, while a second was arrested on suspicion of having violated the terms of his UK visa and the third on suspicion of having overstayed his UK visa.
The men remain in detention under the threat of removal from the UK, while the employer received a civil penalty notice.
If the firm is unable to prove that it carried out the correct pre-employment checks to ensure that its workers had UK work permits or UK visas, they could face a fine of up to £10,000 for each member of staff.
Damian Green, immigration minister, commented: "The UK Border Agency is stepping up its efforts to further disrupt the activities of people involved in facilitating immigration crime including white collar professionals who seek to abuse immigration law."
The news follows earlier reports that 28 illegal workers were found at a power station building site in Wales.
A range of UK immigration offences were committed by the workers, some of whom were still employed despite the expiry of their UK visas, while others were in clear breach of their visa conditions.