The raids were carried by UKBA(United Kingdom Border Agency) officials on the night of 3rd August. The raid is a part of the enforcement drive being carried out in the country to check growing incidents of sham marriages, fake colleges, immigration crime and illegal workers.
During the raid by immigration officials, the documents of the staff employed in Saffron restaurant situated on Queen Street were checked. On seeing the immigration officials, two persons, who tried to sneak away, were found hiding nearby.
The search operations carried by UK immigration officials resulted in arrests of six Bangladeshi nationals found to be working illegally at the restaurant. Out of six workers, two had continued to work in the UK restaurant despite the expiry of their UK visas. The other three had entered the UK through illegal means while another was found to be working in the UK in breach of the conditions mentioned in his UK visa.
The UK immigration officials took all the six people to Torquay police station till further orders.
Meanwhile, they are likely to be deported back to the respective native hometowns since they are not allowed to live and work in the UK as per UK immigration rules.
In another raid by UK immigration officers, a man and a woman, both being Chinese citizens, were working illegally at Hoi Shan Chinese restaurant.
The owners who are the employers of the arrested employees face civil penalties amounting up to thousands of pounds if they are unable to show that they had done all the required checks before employing immigrant workers in their businesses.
It is believed that the fine amount could be as high as £10,000 for each illegal worker hired by them.
Both the Chinese nationals were living in the UK illegally after their applications for seeking asylum in the UK were rejected by UK immigration department.
All of them were handed over to the police officials and were asked queries. Both the employers were handed over the civil penalty notices.
As per UK immigration minister Damian Green, the UKBA is working under the instructions of the UK government to curb immigration crime in the UK.