ALL seven illegal immigrants arrested in a swoop in York last week are likely to be deported from the country.

UK Border Agency officials have established that none of them were in the country legally.

Six remain in agency custody, a seventh has been released into the care of a relative because he is aged under 18.

It remains unclear how the illegal immigrants gained entry into the UK, why they were living in York and to which country or countries they would now be returned to.

North Yorkshire’s chief constable Grahame Maxwell has warned other criminals who break immigration laws face deportation.

The seven were arrested when agency officials raided a house in The Groves owned by Khaliqu Zaman, who runs a string of restaurants in the York area.

They searched his Jaipur Spice restaurant, but Mr Zaman said afterwards that none of the seven worked for him or had any connection with the restaurants.

A Home Office spokesman declined to comment on the raids, saying the department never commented on individual cases. He said: “Where we have evidence of immigration offences, we can and do and have made it clear we will remove people from the country when they have no legal right to stay here.”

Speaking as the Association of Chief Police Officers’ immigration spokesman, the chief constable said: “Immigration is a key concern to the community and the work carried out through the join UK Border Agency and police partnerships has sent a clear message to those foreign criminals who think they can flout our immigration law – if you are committing a crime, you will be caught and you will be removed from the UK.

“By working together we have been able to co-ordinate our efforts to weed out those who cause the most harm in our communities.”