Illegal worker raids carried out in Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth
Raids have been carried in Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth targetting premises suspected of employing illegal immigrants.
The raids were carried out by Shropshire's Multi-Agency Targeted Enforcement Strategy (MATES) taskforce at a car wash and a skip company.
A number of people were found and "offered help and support" according to officers.
Last month two people were arrested by the taskforce in Telford.
After the latest raids, police said the living conditions at one of the properties were "of concern and will now be improved as a result of today's intervention".
Inspector Becky Bishop said: "Illegal working has far greater consequences and often those who are being employed when they have no legal right to be in the country are being exploited by individuals taking advantage of them."
The MATES taskforce sees police, fire service, trading standards, environmental health, Home Office immigration, housing enforcement, HMRC and the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority working together.
The team looks at a number of crimes including illegal working, counterfeit and smuggled tobacco, rogue landlords, unlawful houses of multiple occupancy, and serious breaches of fire and safety regulations.
They also look to stop exploitation of workers, modern slavery, human trafficking and child sexual exploitation.
Inspector Bishop added: "The MATES partnership sees a range of different agencies come together where we can share information, making our approach to tackling these issues much more coordinated and robust. It helps us build a bigger picture of what is happening and strengthens our efforts to take action.
"We all have a different role to play but by working together we can better tackle issues that are often not obvious such as labour exploitation, modern slavery and child sexual exploitation.
"Tackling the sale of counterfeit and smuggled goods or rogue landlords and unlawful homes of multiple occupancy can often lead to uncovering something much bigger and help us protect some of the most vulnerable people in our society."
Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council's deputy cabinet member for housing, said: "Officers from the community protection team identified a property to be a house in multiple occupation with a number of health and safety hazards, putting the tenants' safety at risk.
"We will be working closely with the landlord to ensure that the hazards are removed and the property is appropriately licensed.
"Shropshire Council is committed to such multi-agency working and will be carrying out more visits in the near future to ensure a safe and a good standard of rented accommodation in Shropshire."
The latest raid happened on Thursday.
