FIVE men were arrested at a Barrhead restaurant for allegedly working illegally in the UK after immigration officers swooped.
A UK government Home Office Immigration Enforcement team targeted Saffron, formerly Mount Shimla, on Barrhead's Main Street on Thursday, July 11, closing the restaurant to the public while they searched the premises.
Four Indian men and one man from Pakistan were arrested, suspected of working illegally and two of the men have already been removed from the country.
Now the popular curry hotspot faces fines of up to ££10,000 per person if it can't be proved that background checks were carried out before it employed the men.
However well known restaurant manager Jaz Brad says the border agency has it wrong and the restaurant is free of any wrong doing.
Mr Brad said: "I was not present when this happened but I have the proper papers for all of the people who work here and I will prove it, in black and white, when I meet with the border agency.
"We have always played it by the book, and after 12 years in this town this is the first time anything like this has ever happened to us.
"Two of the boys working here were going to college and had the correct paperwork, and we have always done the correct checks on our employees.
"Two of the men were only visiting the restaurant.
"It is not fair that something like this could potentially impact our business.
"The Border Agency have it wrong in this case."
Restaurant bosses will now have to come up with the right paperwork for each employee or face the hefty fines which could total up to £50,000.
The three men who were not removed form the UK must report regularly to the Home Office while their cases are concluded.
One customer who did not wish to be named visited the restaurant on the night that officers conducted the raid.
She said: €œWe were just going for a curry, as you do, and there were two men at the door with border agency gear on and they told us that the restaurant was closed to the public."
Adam Scarcliffe from the Home Office Immigration Enforcement team said: “We are carrying out operations like these across Scotland to deal with illegal immigration.
€œI would urge members of the public with detailed information about suspected immigration abuse to get in touch.
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I love the bleats from the manager
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... that's where my mother was born - away back on March 1, 1916! And it's where my maternal grandparents spent their entire long lives ... both living well into their nineties!!
- to read about how much the 
