UK raids nail salons, arrests nearly 100 people, mostly from Vietnam

Several Vietnamese gangs are accused of setting up nail salons as legal "shields" for illegal activities including prostitution and cannabis cultivation.

The UK Home Office says 97 people have been arrested in a raid on 280 nail bars suspected of employing illegal non-EU workers.

Most of those detained were Vietnamese, Reuters reported. Others were from Mongolia, Ghana, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and India. More than 10 of them were believed to have been trafficked to the facilities.

Nearly 100 people were arrested in a raid on nail salons in the UK, most of them Vietnamese. Photo: Shutterstock.

A series of recent incidents have seen Vietnamese criminal gangs set up nail salons as legal fronts for illegal activities including prostitution and cannabis cultivation.

The raid was carried out as part of Operation Magnify, a multi-department operation aimed at tackling illegal labour in the UK. The week-long operation ended in early December.

“This operation sends a strong message to employers who seek to exploit vulnerable people and deliberately break immigration laws,” said Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill. “These new forms of exploitation are barbaric crimes that destroy the lives of many of the most vulnerable in our society.”

Construction sites, domestic help, transport and cleaning businesses were all targeted, with 68 businesses facing fines of up to £20,000 for each illegal worker they employed.

The Home Office said that people identified as victims of trafficking and exploitation would receive support. However, those without permission to remain in the UK would be deported.

According to a 2013 report by the UK’s Counter Trafficking Centre, around 90% of victims trafficked to the UK to grow cannabis are Vietnamese nationals. Many were promised work in nail salons.

In the five years from 2009 to 2013, more than 90 nail salons in England and Wales owned by Vietnamese people were fined a total of £700,000 for employing illegal immigrants.

According to Zing