28 Indians caught working illegally in the UK

United Kingdom, 1st December: 28 Indians have been found to be working illegally in the UK by the UK Border Agency.

All of these undocumented immigrants were working at a construction site of a new power station named Pembroke Power Station in Wales.

This raid of the undocumented work operation in Wales by the UKBA UK Border Agency)  is being regarded as the biggest in the year.

The search operation by the UKBA (happens to be a part of the nationwide enforcement drive for curbing immigration crime in the country. 

On November 25, a team of officials of the UKBA led by Dyfed-Powys Police reached the power station after learning about the employment of undocumented immigrants by a sub-contractor. The UKBA officials verified the immigration documents of the workers. It was found that majority of these undocumented immigrants were from the Punjab state of India.

These immigrants were found to be involved in several immigration offences like entering the UK through illegal means, working in the UK in breach of UK visa norms and overstaying their UK visas, revealed Julian Smith, head of the local immigration team of South West Wales, UKBA.

He maintained that all these immigrants were not entitled to live and work in the UK since their UK visas had expired. Smith said that the search operation was quite complex and involved verification and questioning of 51 workers and conducting search operations at five different residential addresses.

Out of the total 28 undocumented immigrants, eleven will remain in the immigration detention, sixteen are on immigration bail and one has been arrested for using fake identity document. Those on immigration bail will get deported to their respective nations after the emergency travel papers are secured by the UKBA.

A civil penalty notice has been served on the sub-contractor for employing undocumented immigrants. In addition, he will be liable to a maximum fine of £10,000 for each worker employed by him in case he is not able to provide sufficient proof to the UKBA that he conducted relevant checks regarding the immigration status of the workers before hiring them.

UK immigration minister Damian Green said that the police and the crime agency will make life difficult for those cheating the immigration system.