IMMIGRATION officials have launched an unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigrants working in the region.

Specialist snatch teams are carrying out an average of one raid every week across the North-East.

In the past year, 343 illegal immigrants have been removed from the region - and this figure is expected to rise dramatically.

Under a new fast-track procedure, some illegal immigrants could be sent home within days.

The Northern Echo accompanied immigration officers on a raid in Darlington this week.

Using scanning equipment, officials were able to uncover illegal immigrants within seconds.

Eight people were arrested in the raids.

They are in detention and could now face deportation.

Some of them could even be fast-tracked and deported within a few days.

Next week, the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) will have been running for a month.

The agency is split into regional offices, and the newly- appointed immigration director for the North-East, Yorkshire and Humberside, Chris Hudson, has pledged to work with communities to tackle illegal workers and the menace of people-smuggling.

In the raids on Thursday night and yesterday morning, eight people were arrested in Darlington and Stockton.

The raids in Darlington were centred on three Indian restaurants around the town.

At the New Bengal, in Victoria Road, two Bangladeshi men were arrested on suspicion of over-staying their visas.

Two other town centre restaurants were raided, but no arrests were made.

Mr Hudson said: "This is part of our ongoing strategy to strengthen the borders and speed up asylum applications.

"All of our operations are intelligence led in one way or another.

"Sometimes we get the intelligence ourselves, and we do get information from what other people are telling us. We do not conduct 'fishing' operations, only strategic operations."

The operations were conducted with the support of the police.

No force was used to gain entry to the premises.

A mobile fingerprint scanner was used during the raids, which can be used to check the prints of suspects immediately.

Amjad Hossain Bhuiyan, a partner at the New Bengal, said he had co-operated with police officers and immigration officials when they entered the premises.

He said: "The people arrested were here visiting and they weren't working here.

"I'm not an immigration officer and I can't ask everybody if they are here legally.

"We are a family business that's been going since 1998 and have a good relationship with Darlington Borough Council and the police.

"We've got a good reputation and we wouldn't do anything to harm our business."

Yesterday morning, a food processing plant in Stockton was also raided by immigration officers.

Four Iraqis and two Belarussian people were arrested on suspicion of being illegal workers.

The BIA was tipped off to the possibility of illegal workers by the plant's management.

A spokeswoman for the BIA said she hoped other employers would work with them on similar cases.

She said: "We would commend this employer for working with us. It's an example of what can be achieved when we trust each other.

"This employer has had his suspicions and come to us and worked with us, so he is not culpable in any way.

"We're very pleased that they have co-operated."

Working with the people - Page 4