Nine arrests after illegal worker clampdown on Shropshire border

West Mercia Police said nine people were arrested as police and partner agencies swooped on four locations in a crackdown on illegal workers.

Officers from West Mercia Police joined a MATES (Multi Agency Targeted Enforcement Strategy) operation at four locations with Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue (HWFRS), Immigration Enforcement and Herefordshire Council Licensing Enforcement all taking part.

A total of nine people were found working and living in the UK illegally, which saw fines issued to employers and enforcement papers were issued by HWFRS.

Among them were four Chinese workers at a site on Southern Avenue in Leominster on the Shropshire/Herefordshire border, who were found living and working on site and all identified as illegal.

They were interviewed and processed by Immigration with no slavery complaints. The four have been bailed by immigration and are subject to an ongoing investigation.

Elsewhere, two men from India were arrested on suspicion of having fake documents at a building site in Lyde, one Vietnamese female was arrested, processed and bailed by Immigration in Widemarsh Street in Hereford.

And at Planet Buffet on Commercial Road, also in Hereford, two Chinese males were arrested, processed and bailed by Immigration.

Police Sergeant Duncan Reynolds, of West Mercia Police, said: “This MATES op was a big success, securing nine suspects arrested at four locations thanks to some great partnership work.

“Those arrested are now being processed by Immigration as further investigations continue into illegal workers linked to organised crime gangs whose criminality has no place on the streets of Hereford.”