A Chinese takeaway faces fines up to £40,000 after two immigration offenders were arrested during an operation near Maidstone.

On Friday, March 11, officers acted on intelligence to visit The Oriental Chef, in Tovil, questioning each member of staff to establish whether they had rights to live and work in the UK.

A 29-year-old woman and a man, aged 37, were arrested for overstaying their visitor visas. Both were from Indonesia and neither had the right to work.

They have been transferred to immigration detention pending removal from the country.

Two remaining staff at the Church Street establishment were cleared for work in the UK.

The business will be served a notice warning that financial penalties of up to £20,000 per illegal worker found will be imposed unless it 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.

Assistant director Richard Lederle, head of the Kent and Sussex Immigration Enforcement team, said: "There will be no slow down in our efforts to tackle illegal working in Kent. Using illegal labour is not a victimless crime.

"It defrauds the treasury of much needed funds, undercuts businesses who ply an honest trade and cheats legitimate job seekers out of employment opportunities."

He added: "There are simple checks employers can carry out to ensure their employees have the right to work in the UK. Those who choose to ignore the rules will face the consequences.

"We rely on information from the public and I would urge people to report suspected immigration abuse to us.”

Information to help employers carry out checks to prevent illegal working can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/employers-illegal-working-penaltieshttps://www.gov.uk/report-immigration-crime or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

. It includes a new quick answer right-to-work tool to help employers check if someone has the right to work in the UK.

People with information about suspected immigration abuse can contact