Restaurant opened by home secretary raided

13 Mar 2012 | Posted by Carl Thomas

Illegal workers have been found working in a restaurant opened by the home secretary herself.

Theresa May is featured on the Innovation Restaurant's website cutting the ribbon to announce its opening in Maidenhead. However, her department has now overseen the detainment of five suspected illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who were found in the restaurant.

At the moment it is unclear if the five people were workers or not and the owner of the premises claims that the men were not working for him but had been living in a flat on the same premises.

If it is proven otherwise, the restaurant could face a fine of up to £10,000 for each of the illegal immigrants working for the business unless they can confirm and demonstrate that the legally required right-to-work checks were carried out before the group was employed.

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency commented: "We will not tolerate abuse of the immigration system and always investigate suspicions of illegal working. As a result of this operation we arrested five immigration offenders and will take appropriate action."

Back in 2010 another restaurant near Maidenhead where Ms May had signed the guest book and was featured on the website was targeted by UK immigration officials.

Two suspected illegal immigrants were detained after raids on the premises but the owner of the restaurant once again claimed not to be be aware of their status.