By bizn_fun 
Andy Radcliffe, an assistant director at Immigration Enforcement, is leading an investigation into the BBC’s allegations involving HMRC, the National Crime Agency, Companies House, police forces and Trading Standards.
An investigation was “immediately launched” after the BBC’s report, he said, with teams building “an intelligence picture in the matter of a few weeks”.
Mr Radcliffe added that this was just the start of the investigation “to try and tackle the widespread abuse”.
“We’re taking this very seriously… people could go to prison for this, we could take assets off them, so we’re taking it very seriously,” he said.
Earlier this month, the BBC revealed evidence of criminal networks organising and profiting from undocumented working in barber shops, mini-marts and carwashes across the UK.
The Home Office launched an “urgent investigation” involving police forces across the country after the BBC uncovered more than 100 businesses linked to a suspected Kurdish crime network enabling migrants to work illegally and sell counterfeit cigarettes in High Street mini-marts.
The investigation found an asylum seeker, who says his claim was rejected, trying to sell a mini-mart for £18,000 in cash.
Undercover reporters also exposed a man at the centre of an immigration crime group who said he had “customers in every city” and could wipe illegal working fines worth up to £60,000.
Loose regulation of Britain’s labour market is acting as a pull factor for those entering the UK illegally, the government has acknowledged.