Illegal workers found at Yarmouth restaurants

Anthony CarrollImmigration officers from the UK Border Agency found seven illegal workers during a raid of two Chinese restaurants in the Great Yarmouth area.Anthony Carroll

Immigration officers from the UK Border Agency found seven illegal workers during a raid of two Chinese restaurants in the Great Yarmouth area.

Officers from the Local Immigration Team Norfolk discovered the illegal staff at raids at the Red Leaf Restaurant and China Diner on Hall Quay, Yarmouth, and the Lotus House, in Ormesby Road, Caister.

The raids were part of an on-going clampdown on businesses employing illegal foreign workers.

Immigration checks at the Red Leaf and the China Diner revealed three male failed Chinese asylum seekers, aged 38, 34 and 30, and a 26-year-old male Pakistani who had overstayed on his visa.

Checks at the Lotus House found that two Chinese men, both aged 43, had overstayed their visas and a third, aged 33, had entered the country illegally.

If the restaurants can not prove that they carried out the correct pre-employment checks, they can be fined up to �10,000 for each illegal worker.

Insp Colin Daulby, from the UK Border Agency, said: 'We will not tolerate illegal working - it undercuts wages and exploits vulnerable workers.

'These arrests are part of an on-going crackdown on illegal working in Norfolk.

'Anyone who takes on a foreign national without permission to work in the UK is breaking the law, is undermining law abiding businesses and faces a big fine.'