Officers have questioned six Bangladeshi staff members at a Bromley restaurant who were found to have overstayed or breached their visas.

The immigration offenders were working at Pink Garlic in Chatterton Road near Bromley Common.

The Indian restaurant could be fined up to £120,000 if the management cannot prove that they carried out sufficient checks on staff members’ right to work in the UK.

Acting on intelligence, immigration enforcement officers questioned staff on Thursday evening (March 10) and found five of the men had overstayed their visas.

They included a 23-year-old who had held a six-month visitor visa, two, aged 24 and 29, who had student visas and two, aged 32 and 36, who had working holiday visas.

The sixth man, aged 26, was found to be working in breach of his visa conditions.

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All six men have been ordered to report to immigration enforcement while their cases are progressed.

Pink Garlic was served a notice warning that a financial penalty of up to £20,000 per illegal worker arrested will be imposed unless they can demonstrate that appropriate right to work document checks were carried out, such as seeing a passport or Home Office document confirming permission to work.

Graham Blackwood, head of the South London Immigration Enforcement team, said: “We take robust action against employers in south London who choose to use illegal labour.

“Illegal working is not victimless and can involve the exploitation of some of society’s most vulnerable people.

“It also defrauds the treasury of vital funds, undercuts businesses that provide an honest trade and cheats legitimate job seekers out of employment opportunities.”

Pink Garlic has been contacted for comment.