Fifteen 'illegal workers' arrested at Black Country factories
Fifteen suspected illegal workers from India have been arrested at factory units in the Black Country following a crackdown by police and immigration officers.
Seven men and seven women, aged between 30 and 60, were among those arrested on suspicion of overstaying their visas. Another woman who was arrested is believed to have entered the UK illegally and had started working. Officers swooped in daytime raid on factory units in Smethwick.
They visited Plastech and the Mill Dhakar factories, which operate in Anne Road, on Monday afternoon.
The Home Office said all 15 have been placed on immigration bail while action is taken to remove them from the UK.
Officials served the business with a notice warning that a civil penalty of up to £10,000 per illegal worker arrested could be imposed unless proof is provided that the correct right-to-work checks were carried out.
West Midlands Immigration Enforcement assistant director Mary Halle said today: "This is warning to businesses which either deliberately employ people with no right to work or fail to carry out the legally required checks on their staff."
