Two Tooting restaurants are facing huge fines after nine illegal immigrants were arrested following police raids.

Border control officers descended upon Lahore Karai, in Tooting High Street, and Dawat, in Upper Tooting Road, on Saturday (June 15).

Six men at Lahore Karari were questioned about whether they had the right to be in the UK, while another two at Dawat awere also detained.

The businesses were served notices warning that a civil penalty of up to £10,000 per illegal worker will be imposed unless proof is provided that the correct right-to-work checks were carried out.

This is a potential fine of £60,000 for Lahore Karari and £30,000 for Dawat.

At Lahore Karari two Pakistani men, aged 21 and 44, had overstayed their visas, a further two, aged 23 and 32, had entered the country illegally, while a 32-year-old man was a failed asylum seeker.

A final 22-year-old Afghan man was found to be a failed asylum seeker.

At Dawat three Pakinstani men aged 22, 29 and 51 were arrested for overstaying their visas.

One of the men, the 51-year-old, tried to flee through a back door but was tackled by an enforcement officer.

Jill Smith, head of the Home Office Immigration Enforcement team in South London, said: "We are out almost every day in London, working hard to track down and remove from the country those who seek to abuse the UK’s immigration laws.

"While we are happy to work with businesses to let them know what checks need to be done on staff, those who do break the law should know that we are out there looking for them and they will face heavy fines.

Anyone with information about suspected immigration abuse can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 anonymously or visit www.crimestoppers-uk.org.