23 March 2005 – Telford (UK): Almost 60 workers have been arrested at Epson Telford’s ink cartridge factory in Telford, Shropshire, during a raid by police and immigration officers.
The incident, which will be followed by a period of close co-operation between Epson Telford and the immigration authorities, was done with the full knowledge and approval of the company’s management.
The authorities became suspicious when Epson sent identification documents of its workers to the UK Immigration Authority for routine checking.
Following the raid and resulting investigation, as many as 37 workers were identified as living in the UK illegally, a spokeswoman from the Home Office told opi.net. She added that, as of late last week, 27 were in detention pending deportation, of which 22 were from Ghana.
Spokeswoman for Epson Telford Val Dawson told opi.net: "Telford is an industrial area where many multinationals are employed so we work closely with the immigration authorities to ensure documents are checked. This takes time so when the authorities became suspicious, the workers in question were already working at the factory.
"But as soon as they requested a site visit, we immediately co-operated," she added.
