Border Agency makes Manchester arrests

A CASH & carry and a takeaway in Manchester are facing fines of £20,000 and £10,000 following raids in Manchester by UK Border Agency last Thursday.

Staff from the agency made two arrests at the Al-Fasial Cash & Carry on Slade Lane in Longsight and one at the Urban Spice takeaway on Hathersage Road.

At Al Faisal a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man who had entered the UK as a student was arrested for working in breach of his student visa and a 20-year-old Afghan man was arrested as an overstayer. Another worker who had no permission to work was escorted from the premises.

At Urban Spice Takeaway a 19-year-old Pakistani man who was in the UK illegally was arrested.

All three are now in UK Border Agency detention awaiting their removal from the UK.

Both the Al-Fasial Cash & Carry and Urban Spice Takeaway face possible fines of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker unless they provide the UK Border Agency with proof that they carried out the correct right-to-work checks.

Eddy Montgomery, operations director for the UK Border Agency in the North West, said: “Non-EU students are generally allowed to work up to 20 hours a week, but if people ignore the rules by working illegally we will find them and seek to remove them from the country.

“We will not tolerate illegal working which undercuts wages and can exploit vulnerable workers.”