Migrant crackdown as UK police swoop on ‘criminal network helping refugees work illegally'

London -Alsharq Tribune- Sarah Benkraouda 

Immigration officers have arrested three people suspected of involvement in a crime network helping migrants to work illegally in Britain.

Two Iranians, aged 32 and 28, and a 43-year-old naturalised British citizen were taken into custody after multiple properties were raided in Birmingham and the West Midlands.

The arrests follow a BBC investigation that uncovered a criminal network enabling migrants to work in various businesses across the UK.

Over 100 mini-marts, car washes and barber shops operating from Dundee to south Devon have been linked to the crime network.

The three men are being held on suspicion of facilitating both illegal entry to the UK and unlawful employment.

The BBC's undercover investigation revealed that more than 100 businesses were linked to a Kurdish criminal network.

Journalists posed as asylum seekers looking to purchase a shop that they could operate off the books.

In exchange for monthly fees, gang members register the shops in their names, but play no part in the day-to-day running of the businesses.

The crime syndicate has already registered dozens of stores with Companies House, which are run by the asylum seekers.

Many of the stores reportedly sell contraband cigarettes and vapes, including to children. The migrants often employ other refugees, paying them a pittance - just £4 an hour according to the BBC investigation.

The Home Office announced its own investigation following the BBC report, appointing Andy Radcliffe - the Assistant Director from Immigration Enforcement - to lead the probe.

"We're taking this very seriously," he said. "People could go to prison for this, we could take assets off them, so we're taking it very seriously

." Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood admitted that these kinds of criminal networks "create an incentive for people to come here illegally".

Questioned by the BBC, last week, she said: "What your reporters were able to scrutinise and show is absolutely evidence of why our system is broken. It's why this government has been cracking down on illegal working."