Immigration officials have officially closed a case after raiding an Oban takeaway in September.
Kebabish owner Shaukat Chaudhry showed The Oban Times a letter he received from the Home Office last week, announcing he would not be liable for a civil penalty for employing four workers its officers arrested on September 8.
He says: “It is proved that all our staff was legal”, but he complained he has still not had an apology or an explanation about why the raid on workers was carried out.
Mr Chaudhry says neither has his solicitor or MP Brendan O’Hara heard from the Home Office.
“The raid was completely based on discrimination and humiliation, and there is no justification,” said Mr Chaudhry.
Earlier this year, Mr Chaudhry said the 14 immigration officers who raided his business behaved like “criminals”.
He said five of his Pakistan-born staff were treated disrespectfully and interrogating for one hour before four of them were arrested and taken away to the town’s police station.
Mr Chaudhry alleged pizza oven equipment was damaged, food spilled on the floor and donner kebabs were left to burn.
And he also claimed about £1,500 was lost in takings as the takeaway had to shut its doors during the raid. His business’s reputation took a hit, he said.
Three members of staff were released later that same evening, although further enquiries into their immigration status continued. One of the men was removed to Dungavel detention centre said Mr Chaudhry but that man was released on immigration bail after the Home Office said it was identified he was working in breach of his visa.
Mr Chaudhry said the immigration office had false information for one of the men, with officials saying he should have only legally been working as a tandoor chef when, in fact, his job was kitchen operations manager.
A similar immigration raid was carried out on the premises in 2018 and Mr Chaudhry said he never got an apology for that either.
At the time of the 2023 raid, a Home Office spokesperson said: “Illegal working causes untold harm to our communities, cheating honest workers out of employment, putting vulnerable people at risk, and defrauding the public purse.
“Illegal working visits are up by more than 50 per cent on last year and arrests have more than doubled, with more people arrested in 2023 than during the whole of 2022 as a result of this activity. We are also removing those with no right to be in the UK.”
Despite The Oban Times asking for an updated comment following the case being closed, no Home Office response was received.
The letter Mr Chaudhry received also said the document would set out the reasons why the case would not be proceeding despite having photographic evidence and interview records. However, the Statement of Case only said that while those four people were “encountered” at the premises “it has been decided that you are not liable for a civil penalty under Section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006”.
Brendan O’Hara MP said after sending a letter and several exchanges with the Home Office, the only explanation he was ever given was that it was intelligence-led, “whatever that means”, and added: “I am therefore no further forward in ascertaining why this raid happened in the way it did. I am extremely concerned at the heavy-handed manner in which these innocent men have been treated, and the very least they deserve is an apology from Home Office or Border Force for the distress they suffered.”