Indians among 60 delivery drivers held for working illegally in UK
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Apr, 2023 04:35 PM
London, April 25 (IANS) As part of a week-long crackdown on illegal migration, 60 delivery drivers, including Indians, have been arrested across London for working illegally, the UK Home Office said.
The drivers, working for companies including Deliveroo, JustEat, and UberEats, were arrested for offences, including illegal working and possession of false documentation.
The majority of offenders were of Brazilian nationality. Indian and Algerian nationals were also found to be working without the right to do so in the country, a UK Home Office statement read.
Of those arrested, 44 were detained by the Home Office, pending their removal from the UK, with the remaining 16 being released on immigration bail. It is also expected that a number of the arrests will result in voluntary departure from the UK.
"Illegal working damages our communities, cheats honest workers out of employment and defrauds the public purse. As the Prime Minister has set out, we are committed to going further and faster to prevent the abuse of our laws and borders," Britain's Indian-origin Home Secretary Suella Braverman said in a statement.
"The British public deserve a labour market that is fair and honest and must have confidence that goods and services they buy are from legitimate businesses," she added.
The operation also led to the seizure of weapons and cash suspected of being linked to criminal activity. Following thorough searches of properties linked to the arrests, imitation firearms and other weapons were found, while over 4,500 pounds was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Home Office statement said.
Immigration Enforcement carried out extensive intelligence-gathering ahead of the operation, to identify hotspots for illegal moped delivery drivers. Alongside relevant police forces, the Home Office deployed officers on six consecutive days (16 to 21 April), to make the arrests and detentions.
Indians are among the second-largest group of migrants crossing the English Channel illegally on small boats, with 675 recorded between January and March this year, according to recent statistics released by the UK Home Office.
The UK government said is clamping down on illegal working to ensure all companies and workers are contributing to the UK economy by complying with its tax and other regulations.
More widely, it can also be a pull factor for illegal migration, often trapping vulnerable people in poor conditions and exploitation while undermining the UK's labour market. Employers in the UK can be jailed for five years and could pay an unlimited fine if they are found guilty of employing someone they knew or had 'reasonable cause to believe' did not have the right to work in the UK.
Students at the Ternopil Medical University in Ukraine capital Kyiv are in constant touch with the Indian Embassy. The varsity is also extending assistance to the students. There are around 20,000 Indian nationals in Ukraine. Most of them are medical students.
The announcement marks this week's one-year anniversary of a supply chain review that found the U.S. is overly dependent on foreign sources, especially China.
Court documents allege there were also two undocumented Indian nationals in the van, along with snacks and provisions. Not far away, in southern Manitoba, RCMP and border officials discovered four frozen bodies, later identified as a couple and their two children from India, who investigators believe were part of a larger group making their way to the United States.
Around 20 medical students from Bareilly and Rampur district are stuck in Ukraine, following border tension with Russia. They want the government of India to evacuate them, according to family members. There are currently around 50 students from Bareilly studying in Ukraine.
The flight ticket prices have risen from Rs 50,000 to over Rs 70,000 and the students say it is this financial hurdle that is forcing them to stay put despite the advisory by the Indian government. On normal days, the flight tickets would cost Rs 21,000-Rs 26,000. But now, due to the Russia-Ukraine tensions, the rates have jacked up.
Former Amazon employee Rohit Kadimisetty has been sentenced to 10 months in prison with a fine of $50,000 for a fraud and bribery scheme targeting the e-commerce giant's online Marketplace. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement that Kadimisetty, 28, of Northridge, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in September 2021.
