Acton takeaway scene of immigration swoop

Two people have been arrested after Immigration officers raided the Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Oaks shopping centre.

Officers visited the branch at around 7.30pm on Friday 12 April, where they carried out immigration checks on the four members of staff working there.

Two Sri Lankan men, aged 25 and 28, were found to have been in the UK illegally and were arrested for immigration offences. Both were detained pending their removal from the UK.

The franchisee of the takeaway, SME Group PLC, will now have to provide proof to the Home Office that the correct right-to-work checks were carried out or face a fine of up to £10,000 per illegal worker.

Assistant Director Sarah Burton, from the Home Office’s West London Immigration Enforcement Team, said:

“Where we find people living and working illegally in the UK we will seek to remove them.

“Illegal working fuels illegal immigration, so businesses which don’t carry out the correct checks on their staff face being hit with heavy fines.”

15th April 2013