IMMIGRATION officers have pledged to ramp up the pressure on illegal workers in the city after raids on four Indian restaurants.

About 24 UK Border Agency officials simultaneously struck at restaurants in Jericho, Summertown and East Oxford on Wednesday night.

Two men were arrested, one at Jamal’s restaurant, in Walton Street, and another at Dil Dunia, in Cowley Road.

Qumins, in St Clement’s, and Saffron, in Banbury Road, were also raided, but the agency said nobody was arrested.

Terry Gibbs, head of the Oxfordshire local immigration team, said: “It was a major operation for us.

“These raids show we have stepped up action to tackle serious and organised abuse of our immigration system.”

It brings the total number of arrests on immigration raids in Oxfordshire to more than 24 this year, with the agency checking up on restaurants, a hairdresser and a car repair workshop.

The largest single bust was in January, when eight suspected illegal immigrants were arrested at restaurants in Faringdon and Oxford’s Cowley Road.

The agency was last night unable to say how many of the suspects had been found guilty of immigration offences and deported from the UK.

At 6pm on Wednesday, a father and daughter had just ordered their dinner in Jamal’s when officers burst through the door.

Hazel Hastings, of North Hinksey Lane in Botley, said: “I nearly had a fit when they burst in.

“We have been coming here for 20 years or so, and this is completely unexpected.”

A 26-year-old man, from Sylhet in Bangladesh, was arrested on suspicion of overstaying his visa.

Jamal’s manager, who refused to be named, said: “Everyone employed here has the correct documentation.”

A 40-year-old man from Bhutan was arrested in Dil Dunia on suspicion of illegally entering the country.

But the restaurant’s manager, who did not want to be named, insisted the Border Agency had taken one of his friends, not an employee.

He said: “He came to visit me. He has never worked here. I have never employed anyone who has come in illegally.

“All my employees have the right documents and I am very aware of the law.”

The two men have been detained at an immigration removal centre near Gatwick Airport, and the Border Agency is seeking to remove them from the UK.

They will have 72 hours to challenge the deportation and, if they do, will have to prove they have the right to stay here.

If no challenge is made and passports are available, they could be deported within a week.

But if a legal challenge is made, a passport cannot be found or they claim asylum, the process could take months.