A 22-year-old from Bangladesh was taken into custody
following the 8pm raid at Kiplings Indian Restaurant in North Hill.
His student visa is alleged to have expired. Dan Nolan, 45,
was eating in the restaurant when police stormed in.
The Archway Road resident, who DJs at The Woodman pub in
Archway Road, said: “Four police officers came bouncing through and went
straight to the kitchen, the manager looked pretty stressed.
He added: “It was totally over the top, whatever they were
doing. There was a police van parked outside with ‘immigration’ on it and they
had it on the backs of their uniforms as well.
People were just sitting and eating, quite shocked at what
was going on.” The 22-year-old was transferred to immigration detention pending
removal from the UK.
The restaurant was served with a notice warning that it will
be fined up to £20,000 unless it can demonstrate it carried out the appropriate
right-to-work document checks.
Kiplings denies employing the man, with a spokesman claiming
that he was there for a family party.
The restaurant was among several businesses across the
capital stormed by immigration officers yesterday and today following
allegations of illegal working as part of a Home Office crackdown on the
employment of illegal migrants.
David Seymour-Smith, head of the north London Home Office
Immigration Enforcement team, said:
There will be no slow-down in our efforts
to tackle illegal working in London.
Using illegal labour is not a victimless crime. It defrauds
the treasury of much needed funds, undercuts businesses who ply an honest trade
and cheats legitimate job seekers out of employment opportunities.”
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