Indians among delivery riders detained for working illegally in U.K.

Indians are among 171 delivery riders caught working illegally in a U.K.-wide crackdown and have been detained for deportation from the country, the British government has said.

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The U.K. Home Office Immigration Enforcement teams undertook an ‘Operation Equalise’ over seven days last month, which involved stopping to check the documents of delivery riders operating in villages, towns and cities across Britain.

Those found to be working illegally, which also included Bangladeshi and Chinese nationals, were arrested on the spot and detained for removal to the countries of their origin.

“On 17 November, officers were deployed to the High Street in Newham (east London). Four riders of Bangladeshi and Indian nationality were arrested for illegal working. All four were detained for removal,” the Home Office said in a statement on Thursday (December 4), giving some breakdowns on a total figure of 171 arrests.

“And on 25 November, officers attended Norwich city centre (eastern England), where they conducted a crime reduction operation. Three riders of Indian nationality were arrested, with two detained for removal. The third individual was placed on strict immigration bail,” it stated.

The Home Office said the crackdowns form part of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s “sweeping reforms” to tackle illegal migration in Britain, which includes increasing deportations.

According to its latest data, the government claims its enforcement action to disrupt illegal working last year reached “record breaking levels”, with over 11,000 checks and 8,000 arrests — a 51% and 63% rise, respectively.

Nearly 50,000 people with no right to remain in the U.K. are said to have been removed since July 2024, with people smuggling arrests, convictions and seizures reportedly up by 33% in the past 12 months.

“These results should send a clear message: if you are working illegally in this country, you will be arrested and removed,” said U.K. Border Security Minister Alex Norris.

Last week, Mr. Norris held meetings with food delivery majors Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats to discuss action being taken to tackle illegal working on their platforms and further steps required.

This includes the firms’ continued work to ramp up randomised facial recognition checks to tackle illicit account sharing and receiving the location of asylum hotels to monitor for illegal working hotspots, the Home Office said.

The U.K. authorities warn that criminals are using “dodgy shops on high streets” to hide serious crimes, from money laundering to illegal working, and undercutting genuine businesses.

“That’s why the government is relentlessly pursuing these criminals and their dirty money and has recovered 300 million pounds in criminal assets in the past year. Communities are also being backed with new powers to block some unwanted shops and giving them a greater say over what’s in their high streets,” the Home Office said.

This week, the U.K.’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill received Royal Assent to become law.

The government hopes the introduction of new powers to expand right to work checks to the gig or informal economy, including on delivery riders, will help further clamp down on illegal workers.

The legislation is designed to close existing loopholes, with bosses who fail to conduct stricter checks on their employees facing prison terms of up to five years, fines of 60,000 pounds per illegal worker and having their businesses shut down.