AN INDIAN restaurant in Newport was fined £10,000 for employing illegal immigrant workers.

Delhi Restaurant on Caerleon Road is the first business in the city to get a civil penalty under new rules targeting employers who hire illegal workers.

Two Bangladeshi men aged 26 and 28 were found to be working illegally at the restaurant during a raid in July.

The UK Border Agency gave the employer, Abdul Hye, was given 28 days to provide evidence that proper right-to-work checks had been done by the business.

This was not provided and Mr Hye was given a £10,000 civil penalty fine for the two workers.

The 26-year-old worker was removed from the UK in August and steps are currently underway to remove the 28-year-old as soon as possible.

Since June this year, the UK Border Agency has also been publishing the details of employers found liable for a civil penalty on its website.

Delhi Restaurant has now been named among these.

Jane Farleigh, regional director of the UK Border Agency in Wales and the South West, said: "This fine, the first ever handed to an employer in Newport, shows how seriously we are taking the problem of illegal working.

"When we find that people have no legal right to live or work in the UK my teams will arrest them and remove them from the country.

"But it is also important we deal with employers, because as long as there are illegal jobs available, illegal immigrants will be tempted to come to the UK."

The new civil penalty system was introduced in February this year to encourage employers to comply with regulations, without criminalising those who make inadequate checks.

The new measures also introduced a new criminal offence of knowingly employing an illegal migrant worker.

No-one at the restaurant was available for comment.