Four arrests after Home Office immigration raids Bury Indian restaurant

Four Bangladeshi men have been arrested for immigration offences in a Home Office raid on a Bury St Edmunds Indian restaurant.

The Home Office said today that its Immigration Enforcement officers, ‘acting on intelligence’, visited Valley Connection in Churchgate Street, shortly after 5.30pm on Friday to question whether staff had the right to live and work in the UK.

Three Bangladeshi men, two aged 45 and one aged 52, were found to have overstayed visit visas and a fourth, aged 38, was found to have entered the UK illegally.

All four men have been released on immigration bail while work to remove them from the UK is carried out.

The Home Office says the business now faces a financial penalty of up to £20,000 per illegal worker unless it can demonstrate that appropriate right to work document checks were carried out, such as seeing a passport or Home Office document.

Valley Connection’s owner has been asked to comment.

Chief immigration officer Jack Davis said: “We are working hard to identify, arrest and remove people who are abusing the UK’s immigration system. All of our operations are intelligence led and information from the public is a vital part of this work. I would encourage people with detailed and specific information about illegal immigration to contact us.

“Employers who use illegal labour are cheating the taxpayer, undercutting businesses who play by the rules and depriving legitimate job seekers of employment opportunities. Those who ignore the rules, and do not carry out the simple checks to ensure their employees have the right to work in the UK, will face the consequences.”

Information to help employers carry out checks to prevent illegal working can be found on the www.gov.uk website. It includes a new quick answer right-to-work tool to help employers check if someone has the right to work in the UK.

People with information about suspected immigration abuse can report it at www.gov.uk/report-immigration-crime or by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.