Five migrants arrested in Village of the Year restaurant

The UK Border Agency has raided a restaurant in Great Bentley in its latest act in the continued campaign against illegal workers in Britain.

The Thai Flag restaurant, formerly public house The Flag, is located on Flag Hill in the picturesque Essex village which has won Britain’s ‘Village of the Year’ on numerous occasions. The restaurant now faces a fine of up to £50,000 (£10,000 per person) following the discovery of an alleged five illegal immigrants.

The UKBA raided the premises at approximately 5.30pm last Friday evening, and arrested two Malaysian men and a woman, and two Chinese women. The five were reported to have no legal authority to live or work in the UK. Each of the Malaysian migrants had overstayed their visas while the Chinese teenagers were failed asylum seekers.

William Ng, the manager of the Thai Flag, claimed that the correct pre-employment checks which are required by law were followed and that all of those arrested had showed the necessary documentation prior to their recruitment. Mr Ng claimed that he employed the migrants due to their qualifications for employment and hopes to have the matter sorted once the documents are produced. The Thai Flag restaurant had only been open for three and a half months under the management of Hong Kong born Mr Ng, who has been a British resident for 38 years.

The UKBA has declared that it will not tolerate any attempts by employers to utilise illegal labour and warned that offenders could face forced business closures.