DINERS at a restaurant's charity meal were turned away on Thursday (July 10) after an unexpected visit from immigration officers revealed four workers were employed there illegally.
Indian Night, on London Road on the approach to Chelmsford, was forced to cancel the fundraising meal for the J's Hospice after enforcement officers detained four Bangladeshi staff working there without proper documentation earlier that evening.
The restaurant now faces a fine of up to £80,000, or £20,000 per worker, unless the owners can demonstrate that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out. The restaurant, which last year was awarded the 'Curry Chef of the Year' award by Curry Life magazine, had been planning for months for their third such charity event raising funds for The J's Hospice when officers showed up on their doorstep on Thursday.
Checks revealed that four members of staff were immigration offenders from Bangladesh. Three of the four men arrested, aged 41, 37 and 31, had overstayed their visas while the fourth, aged 33, had entered the UK illegally.
The 37-year-old and 31-year-old have been detained and the others released on immigration bail while work to remove them from the UK is carried out.
Owner of Indian Nights, Azad Ali, said: "It is with great sadness and after months of hard work and preparation that we had to cancel the charity night on July 10 to raise money for The J's Hospice, our third charity night for local causes this year, because of a routine inspection from immigration officers.
"The officers visited us in the early evening shortly after visiting another premises in Brentwood and as soon as they realised we were holding a charity night they offered their apologies to me that they had arrived on the same evening.
"They tried to get through their business as quickly as possible before they left, but it was a great shame because it was already too late to carry on with our fundraising charity evening."
However the restaurant owners have already informed the local charity that they will be donating £500 toward their work with young people struggling with life-limiting conditions. Lorna Brown, from Home Office Immigration Enforcement, said: "These arrests are a clear warning to those in Essex abusing our immigration laws. There will be no let-up in our work to arrest, detain and remove you from the UK.
"Employers who use illegal labour are defrauding the taxpayer, undercutting genuine employers and denying legitimate job hunters work." Anyone with information about suspected immigration abuse can contact www.gov.uk/report-immigration-crime or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
