AN illegal worker faces deportation after a raid at a popular Indian restaurant in the centre of York.

The UK Border Agency carried out a raid at the Bengal Brasserie restaurant in Goodramgate and detained a 33-year-old man from Bangladesh for working illegally.

A spokeswoman for the agency said a civil penalty notice would now be served on the restaurant’s owner, Iqbal Chowdury.

She said: “The restaurant owner could be liable to prosecution and a fine of up to £10,000 per illegal worker found at the premises. The civil penalty notice means that he has to come back to us and show us the checks made to prove he thought the man was in the country legally.

“The man who was taken away in the raid is currently in a detention centre pending his removal from the UK.”

Bengal Brasserie is a successful local restaurant chain and as well as Goodramgate has restaurants at Poppleton in York, Market Weighton and Haddon Road, Leeds.

The business, which was set up by Iqbal Chowdhury 15 years ago in York, now employs about 60 people, including part-time staff.

Earlier this week The Press reported it was also planning to open a new restaurant in Wetherby in the new year which Mr Chowdhury said would employ another 15 to 20 people.

Mr Chowdury said: “I am very shocked at what’s happened. I had been in hospital having an operation and Sunday was my first day back at work. My associate had taken the man on in my absence and he asked him to provide a copy of his passport and social security number.

“From what I understand, the man has been taken to a detention centre in Lincolnshire and had been in the country illegally since 2005.”

The raid, which took place at about 5.30pm on Sunday, was carried out by Borders Agency staff as part of an intelligence-led investigation.

North Yorkshire Police were not involved in the raid.