A RAID on a takeaway chain at the weekend uncovered six immigrants who were working illegally.

Officers, acting on intelligence, visited Papa Johns in Nightingale Road, Hitchin, shortly before 8pm on Saturday.

They found five men and one woman from Pakistan and India who were arrested by the UK Border Agency, after checks revealed they were working without legal permission.

Four were taken into detention pending removal from the UK. Three of the four were working in breach of their visas – two Indian men aged 26 and 24 and a Pakistani woman aged 24. A 26-year-old Indian man was found to have overstayed his visa.

The other two offenders – a Pakistani man, 40, who had entered the UK illegally and an Indian man, 26, who had overstayed his visa – were released on immigration bail while work to return them to their home countries is carried out.

UK Border Agency officer Jon Greenbank said: “The message for those who are living and working in the UK illegally is clear – we will track you down and remove you from the country.

“Raids like this are carried out regularly and we want offenders to be in no doubt that the net is closing in.”

Papa John’s must now demonstrate that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out on the six illegal workers.

If not, it faces a potential fine of £10,000 per employee.