IMMIGRATION officers have arrested 17 illegal workers following a series of raids in Didcot.

Officers swooped on six restaurants and takeaways in Broadway at 6.25pm on Thursday. All those arrested have been detained pending removal from the UK, with the exception of three who have been placed on immigration bail while their cases are looked into.

Paul Smith, head of the Thames Valley and Surrey Home Office Immigration Enforcement team, said: “This is a stark warning to businesses which either deliberately employ people with no right to work or fail to carry out the legally required checks. We will catch up with you.”

The officers raided: s Indian Dreams, where they arrested five Bangladeshi men and ordered three others to report to the Home Office s Kolkata, where they arrested five Bangladeshi men s Broadway Spice, where three Bangladeshi men were arrested s Angel Falls, where two men, from Bangladesh and Pakistan, were arrested s Prince of India, where a Bangladeshi man was arrested s Spices Tandoori, where they arrested a 33-year-old Bangladeshi man.

The businesses, which are believed to be linked, face fines totalling up to £200,000.