The owners of the prestigious Rajput Indian restaurant in Harrogate have been found guilty of a conspiracy to traffic their own chefs from India into the UK and exploit them for financial gain.
Chef Shahnawaz Ali Khan, once lauded in press reviews for his skills, his brother Raza Ali Khan and their mother Parveen Khan were found guilty of trafficking up to nine members of staff, following a three month trial at Leeds Crown Court.
The case began after three of the workers came forward reporting that they had been exploited and asking for help.
This led to an investigation, Operation Keepnet.
The investigations revealed a catalogue of exploitation of workers at the Rajput restaurant dating back to 2004.
The three convicted were all found to be complicit in the business’s day-to-day running and therefore involvement with trafficking their workers.
Brothers Shahnawaz Ali and Raza Ali Khan served as directors, Shahnawaz looked after the work permits and visas whilst Raza was in charge of pay.
Their mother, Parveen was found to be closely involved in the running of the restaurant and assisted with obtaining work permits and documentation for their workers.
Following the operation officers from the UK Border Agency’s immigration crime team uncovered a further three staff that had also been trafficked into the UK for exploitation bringing the total to nine.
Many of the staff were previously working in prestigious restaurants in the Middle East, India and Pakistan, and had accepted offers to come and work legitimately at the Rajput, signing formal work contracts and obtaining work visas.
However, on arrival to the UK legally, they promptly had their passports taken from them by one of the defendants and then put them to work at the Rajput for up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week.
The nine staff, all from either Pakistan or India, claimed they were effectively barred from moving around freely, forced to share accommodation with other staff and transported to work by their employers so they could not abscond.
In one incident an employee had their visa and photo ripped out of their passport.
All received little or no money for their work.