TWO restaurants in Oxfordshire face potential fines of £60,000 for employing illegal workers, following raids by immigration enforcement officers.

Home Office officials visited Chef Imperial in High Street, Woodstock, and Mazza Cafe and Restaurant in Cowley Road, Oxford.

At Chef Imperial, which was raided at 12.30pm on Tuesday, March 11, officers arrested three people: a Chinese man, 32, and a Malaysian man, 39, who had both entered the country illegally, and a 35-year-old Brazilian woman who had overstayed her visa.

A 44-year-old Chinese woman, who had also entered the country illegally, was working but was not arrested.

At Mazza, officers arrested two Pakistani men. One, aged 29, was working in breach of his visa conditions while the other, aged 37, had overstayed his visa.

Paul Smith, head of the Thames Valley & Surrey Home Office Immigration Enforcement team, said: “We will continue to track down and remove from the country those who abuse immigration laws.’’