FOUR illegal workers have been arrested in a raid at a lighting shop.

The arrests were made when Home Office enforcement officesr swooped on LFS Lighting in Romer Street, Tonge Fold, this morning.

The raid was carried out following a tip-off that people with no right to be in the UK were working at the independent business.

Three Iranian men, aged between 27 and 29, were arrested along with a 29-year-old man from Iraq. All three are said to be failed asylum seekers.

They have been bailed while their cases are progressed and will now have to report regularly to the Home Office.

LFS Lighting has been served with a notice warning bosses they could face a penalty of up to £80,000 — £20,000 for each arrested illegal worker — unless the firm can prove correct checks were carried out, such as a Home Office document or passport being shown.

A spokesman for LFS Lighting said: “As a business we are trying to investigate and get to the bottom of this.

"It was definitely not deliberate. We have checks that we do, and we employed them on the information they have given to us.

"We have been looking into the checks that have been carried out and making sure we are going in the way we should be.

"We took these staff on after identification was shown.

"We need to tighten things up and go forward - we don’t want this happening again. It has been a learning curve.”

Assistant director Karen McDonough, from the north west Home Office immigration enforcement team, said: “These arrests are a clear warning to those in Bolton abusing our immigration laws.

"There will be no slow-down in our efforts to arrest, detain and remove you from the UK.

“Employers who use illegal labour are defrauding the taxpayer, undercutting genuine employers and denying legitimate job hunters work.

“We are happy to work with employers who want to play by the rules but those which continue to flout them will face heavy financial penalties.

“I would urge anyone with detailed and specific information about suspected immigration abuse to get in touch.”

Suspected immigration abuse can be reported to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.