Immigration offence in UK lands 10 Indians in soup

LONDON: At least 10 Indians were arrested on Friday by British authorities following a dawn raid targeting suspected illegal workers at a Leicester factory.

About 20 border agency officials and police officers were involved in the operation at Spring Shades Ltd in Friday Street.

They sealed off the exits, launching their raid to coincide with the factory's shift swap.

And at the end of the three-hour operation, a total of eight workers out of 40 at the factory had been arrested, The Leicester Mercury reported.

Following, the initial raid, officers carried out searches at two homes in Leicester, where two more people were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences.

Alison Spowage, assistant director for immigration enforcement in the East Midlands, said: "This was a large scale operation targeting suspected illegal working in Leicester."

"Employers who flout the law will not be tolerated. Illegal working is unfair on honest employers and takes jobs away from those with a legal right to work."

All 10 of the men arrested were between the ages 20 and 54.

As well being suspected of working illegally in the UK, four of the 10 arrested were also being questioned on suspicion of possessing false documents.

If the eight people arrested at the factory are found to be illegal workers, then the firm's owners could face a fine of 80,000 pounds, unless they can prove that they made every effort to check the employees' immigration status.