Twelve people, including eight Indians who had overstayed their visas, have been arrested following three separate raids by immigration officials in the London borough of Croydon.
Acting on recieved information, officers raided two residential addresses and an Indian restaurant and arrested twelve people, official sources said.
At the first residential address they arrested a 21-year-old Pakistani male who had sought leave to remain by deception.
At the second location they arrested eight male Indian nationals aged between 23 and 46 who had all overstayed their visas. Officers carried out checks on staff at the Indian
restaurant to ensure they had the right-to-work in the United Kingdom. They arrested three students who had overstayed their visas, a 19-year-old Afghani male and Pakistani men aged 22 and 28.
The 22-year-old attempted to escape through the back door but was stopped by officers.
The restaurant was served with a notice which warned that it could be fined up to 10,000 pounds for each illegal worker arrested unless it can prove that the correct right-to-work checks were carried out.
Eleven of the 12 arrested are currently in immigration detention, while the UK Border Agency takes steps to remove them from the country at the earliest. A 26-year-old Indian has been granted immigration bail while his case is dealt with.
Paula Tucker, head of the UK Border Agency's Croydon local immigration team, said, "We carry out hundreds of operations like this every year across London and where we find people who are in the UK illegally we will seek to remove them."
She added, "Illegal working has a serious impact on communities, undermining legitimate businesses and taking jobs from those who are genuinely allowed to work."
