A BASINGSTOKE restaurant faces a £40,000 fine after immigration officers found two illegal workers during an operation.

Acting on intelligence, officers from the Home Office visited Pizza Go Go, in Alencon Link, at around 6.40pm yesterday evening.

Staff were questioned to find out whether they had the right to live and work in the UK.

Checks revealed that a 26-year-old Nepalese national and a 30-year-old Indian man had overstayed their general student visas.

The two men were arrested and transferred to immigration detention pending removal from the UK.

Pizza Go Go was served with a notice warning that a financial penalty of up to £20,000 per illegal worker found will be imposed, unless the employer can demonstrate that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out, such as seeing a passport or Home Office document.

Assistant director Carla Johnson, head of the south central home office immigration enforcement team, said: “Our specialist teams conduct operations on a daily basis and anyone who is in the UK illegally faces arrest, detention and removal from the country.

“Illegal working defrauds the taxpayer, undercuts honest businesses and cheats legitimate job seekers out of employment opportunities.

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

Anyone with information about suspected immigration abuse should visit https://www.gov.uk/report-immigration-crime or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.