IMMIGRATION officers swooped on a Sandbach timberyard on Tuesday morning in a raid that netted nine illegal workers.

The boss of P & S Ashley Timberworks, Paul Ashley, aged 52, now faces a fine of up to £90,000.

The illegal workers, with no right to be employed in the country, were caught in a UK Border Agency raid in an enforcement operation to tackle immigration crime.

Officers, accompanied by a police dog handler, targeted the Norton Way business following intelligence reports.

Some nine Romanians – seven men and two women aged between 20 and 46 – were arrested for breaching their visa conditions and working illegally in the UK.

Each of the Romanian workers was given an individual fixed penalty notice requiring them to pay £1,000 each.

A further 11 workers, including Eastern Europeans working legally, told officers they lived in terraced homes owned by Mr Ashley.

The business has been issued with a civil penalty notice for employing illegal workers.

If Mr Ashley is unable to prove they conducted the correct pre-employment checks on staff they may be liable for a fine of up to £10,000 per worker – a total of £90,000.

Eddy Montgomery, operations director of the UK Border Agency in the North West, said: “This is the latest in a series of operations we’ve carried out to tackle immigration crime in Cheshire, and more are planned.

“Illegal working has a serious impact on communities, taking jobs from those who are genuinely allowed to work. Businesses which operate outside the law should be warned that they will be found and they will be punished.”

Mr Ashley was fined £80,000 in May last year after pleading guilty to serious breaches of health and safety at the timberyard.

The immigration raid follows a number of other recent operations in Crewe and Nantwich targeting the restaurant industry.

Immigration minister Damian Green added: “These operations are among many being carried out across the country following the success of a major crackdown on immigration crime during the summer, which generated a large number of arrests, cash seizures and prosecutions as well as fresh intelligence.

“The UK Border Agency is stepping up its efforts to further disrupt the activities of people involved in facilitating immigration crime including white collar professionals who seek to abuse immigration law. “Our officers are also working with other law enforcement agencies to root out criminal networks behind the importation of illegal drugs and firearms.

“Illegal immigration puts huge pressure on the public purse at a time when the country can least afford it.”