Police raids on car washes

Five people were in police custody today following raids at car washes in Dudley targeting illegal workers.

Three men, who formed the entire workforce of the Supreme Carwash in Commonside, Pensnett, were arrested in an operation by West Midlands Police and immigration officers.

The business has now been closed down.

Another man was arrested at Wind and Shine in Dudley Road, Lye. The fifth arrest was made at King's Cars in Hayes Lane, Lye.

Sgt Cliff Tomkinson said the raids had been planned based around intelligence received by the immigration service.

"We had a long list of car washes to visit today. There are lots of these around, many of them aren't official and have illegal workers there.

"Car washes are an easy target for illegal immigrants to work in as it's cash-in-hand work. It was based in intelligence but we carried out checks one by one on all car washes in the area," he added.

He said that any illegal immigrants found during the raids would be sent back to their home country.

Immigration officer Manoj Lal, who is based in Solihull, said some of those questioned during the day were from Afghanistan.

"This is a drive to remove as many illegal Afghanis as possible," he said.

"It's something the immigration inspectors thought would be a good idea. Illegal workers working in car washes are a problem across the country which is why we teamed up with West Midlands Police today."

Sgt Tomkinson said more raids would be carried out in the near future.