Seven arrests made during immigration enforcement action in Northern Ireland

Seven arrests were made in Northern Ireland on Thursday by immigration officials.

It came as part of Operation Tornado 2, in which the Home Office is increasing immigration enforcement visits to target illegal working.

A number of similar raids took place across the UK across Thursday and Friday.

The actions in Northern Ireland on Thursday included the targeting of a female Chinese national at a restaurant/takeaway in Warrenpoint, Co Down.

There was an arrest warrant for the woman who was not suspected of any other criminality beyond illegal working. UTV were invited to watch the team in action. The team were told in a briefing before the arrest in Warrenpoint that during a compliance visit conducted in September they were not able to search the property as they did not have a warrant at that stage.

When immigration officers entered the takeaway there were two men in the restaurant, one was the owner of the establishment whose identity and status was confirmed.

The other man was questioned by enforcement officers using a Mandarin interpreter over the phone. He was found to have residency in the Republic of Ireland, but as a Chinese citizen that does not give the man the legal right to work in Northern Ireland.

Murad Mohammed was one of the officers involved in the operation.

“This was part of a national operation, we had intelligence to suggest that there would be people working illegally in the establishment that we visited, we secured a warrant, and we executed that warrant this evening,” he said.

"And we encountered one Chinese male who had no legal basis to be working here, therefore he was promptly arrested.

”Due to the man’s compliance with officers he was allowed to voluntarily return to the Republic of Ireland, after he had his photograph and fingerprints taken at the premises in Warrenpoint.

The man was asked by officers if he had the financial means to leave Northern Ireland that evening, with the expectation that he would leave at the latest in one or two days. The owner of the restaurant asked officers if he could issue refunds to customers waiting outside the takeaway who were not permitted to enter while the raid was ongoing.

For employing someone who did not have permission to work in Northern Ireland, the owner of the takeaway was given a civil penalty referral notice, that could carry a fine of up to £20,000. Mr Mohammed said in his view the operation was a success.

“It was a success, we had reason to believe that they were illegal workers, and we did encounter. On the fine for the owner he added:

“He had an employee he shouldn’t be employing, and therefore, in this case, it’s going to be up to £20,000.

”Three vans and around 10 immigration enforcement officers were involved in the raid.When asked on the benefit of carrying out such operations, Mr Mohammed said:

“It is our responsibility to uphold the immigration law,“Illegally employing people undercuts other legitimate businesses, we make sure that by enforcing the law, the continuity of legitimate businesses is able to operate without them being unfairly and illegally undercut.”

He added: “If we can stop people working illegally then that is a success in itself.”As a result of the actions in Northern Ireland on Thursday, seven arrests were made, three people were detained and seven Civil Penalty Referral Notices were issued.

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