IMMIGRATION officers swooped on two town centre kebab shops on the hunt for illegal workers.
Ten police and UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers raided Botan Kebabs in Bridge Street before moving on to the Leatherhead Grill in North Street, where eye-witnesses report seeing a man with a pony-tail being handcuffed and loaded into a police car.
Staff at the Leatherhead Grill refused to comment but a spokesman for UKBA said the arrested man was a 25-year-old Iraqi.
Botan Kebabs worker Alex, who would not give his surname, said: "It was a big shock because I was the only one here. I saw two police run up the back of the shop and I was thinking, 'what's happening?'.
"Then ten or so came inside and straight away put me at the back of the shop and said, 'sit, don't move'. They stopped the service and didn't let any customers come in.
"I didn't like it because the kebabs were burning and they didn't even let me turn it off."
No arrests were made and nothing was seized at Botan Kebabs and the raid, at noon on Friday, was over in about ten minutes.
"They searched me then they took my licence and checked with the Home Office if I'm legal or not," said Alex.
"There was no explanation. I was standing at the counter when they came in and put me in the back and made me sit there, then at the last minute as they were going to go they showed me a picture of a man and said, 'do you know him?' and I said, 'no'.
"They said, 'thank you' and they were gone.
"No sorry, they didn't explain to me why they had come inside or why they searched us.
"I've got a friend at the other kebab shop and he phoned me up to say they arrested somebody and they were searching for him I think. I know him from somewhere, I recognised him because I had seen his face and after they went my friend rang me up and said they arrested this person then I realised that man is him."
A UKBA spokesman said no action was being taking against the Leatherhead Grill.
He added: "The man, a failed asylum seeker, is now detained pending his removal from the UK.
"Those in the UK illegally should know that there is no hiding place and that where we find people who are in the UK illegally we will seek to remove them."
