Immigrants without the required UK work permits or visas have been found working in Cumbria by UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers.
An enforcement operation conducted by the agency saw officers pay a visit to Spice of Bengal in Workington at the end of last month. After acting on information and questioning staff, the team discovered two men working illegally.
The pair were from Bangladesh and aged 25 and 41. They have since been taken into detention ahead of their removal from the country.
Meanwhile, the restaurant itself has been issued with a civil penalty notice for employing illegal workers. It could not face fines of up to £10,000 for each worker if it is unable to prove that it conducted the correct pre-employment checks on the staff.
Eddy Montgomery, operations director for the UKBA, commented: “Illegal working has a serious impact on communities, taking jobs from those who are genuinely allowed to work. Businesses which operate outside the law should be warned that they will be found and they will be punished.”
He added that further immigration crime crackdowns are planned for the Cumbria region in the near future and warned other businesses not to flaunt the law in this area.