A MAJOR Liverpool cash-and-carry store was brought to a halt during a raid to find suspected illegal employees.

Over 50 UK Border officials marched into the Bestway warehouse, off Scotland Road, to check staff had the legal right to work in the country.

Pakistani, Indian, Yemeni, Jordan and Iraqi employees were stopped from leaving the premises at around midday yesterday.

Interviews were conducted by immigration staff who carefully scrutinised all details and paperwork provided by foreign nationals during the operation.

Intelligence given to UK border bosses in Liverpool, through an undisclosed tip-off, suggested 20 people out of the 80-strong workforce would be illegally employed.

But following the two-hour visit it was revealed that just two people were at Bestway Cash-and-Carry against the law.

They were a 22-year-old Pakistani man and a 22-year-old Iraqi man, who were arrested and now face deportation.

Duty manager Khawaja Hamid, 46, speaking after the raid on Kingsway Park, St Anne Street, said: “I have people working on student visas but I know they are only allowed to work up to 20 hours and I follow that rule.”

UK Border said the Liverpool raid was planned long before the recent scandal at Westminster when a row erupted between Home Secretary Theresa May and UK Border chief Brodie Clark who quit after scrapping key checks without ministerial approval.