LONDON – Twenty seven illegal workers from India have been arrested in two recent enforcement operations in London and Manchester, according to a press release by the British High Commission. The UK Border Agency is now working to remove them from the UK as soon as possible.
On 22 September UK Border Agency officers visited an Asian supermarket in Southall, West London, to check that the staff had the legal right to work. A total of twenty five staff, including twenty three Indian nationals, were found to have no right to be in the UK and were arrested.
A UK Border Agency spokesperson said:
“It is the legal responsibility of all businesses to check their employees have the right to work in the UK.
“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.”
On 16 September, UK Border Agency officers visited a building site in Manchester and arrested 4 Indian men who had no right to work in the UK.
The supermarket and the agency employing the construction workers now face fines of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker, unless they can prove that they carried out the correct pre-employment checks.
