2 men – from Iraq and Turkey – have been arrested after Immigration Enforcement officers descended on a barbershop in Sandown this afternoon (Thursday).
A number of unmarked vehicles were seen arriving on the High Street shortly after 14:00, having earlier rendezvoused at Yaverland car park before moving in.
Immigration Enforcement officers, supported by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, carried out an illegal working visit at First Class Barbers.
The business was previously located a few doors away but recently moved into the former café premises on the corner of Pier Street.
It has been confirmed that 2 individuals of Iraqi and Turkish nationality were arrested during the operation.
The Home Office says that 1 male has since been released under strict bail conditions while ‘outstanding matters’ are progressed.
The other has been released on bail pending the progression of his case.
A Home Office spokesperson has said:
“Illegal working undermines honest employers, undercuts local wages, and fuels organised immigration crime. This government will not stand for it.
“Since coming into power, we have increased immigration enforcement action to the highest level in British history. This has delivered a 122% rise in illegal working arrests, and a 111% rise in raids.”
The first of many, check some of the Indian places on the south of the island too.
Too be honest these type of Barbers are not my idea
of getting an haircut, especially if using cut throat razors.
The usual quick response from someone who has little understanding of spelling and grammar
Released on bail…..Thats the last youll see of them. Bail, how ridiculous is that.
Hardly. For bail to have been granted they clearly have a right to be here otherwise they’d have been detained.
Ah yes, Sunshine, self-appointed defence counsel for illegal workers. Bail doesn’t equal a right to be here, ‘accessory to immigration offence’ is a real charge, and working when you’re not allowed to is still illegal. Don’t you have anything better to do than insulting the intelligence of concerned hardworking British islanders?
If immigration authorities thought they didn’t have a right to be here they’d have been detained indefinitely. What part of that did you miss? Also, arrest does not mean guilty, it means there is suspicion. What part of that did you miss?
Hardworking does not mean intelligent. What part of….oh, I see.
Laura – See what happens when you give this aerosol the time of day?
Stop talking rubbish. You have no idea what you are talking about, or how the legal system works. So being rude to other people for having an intelligent response says alot about you as a person. Nothing but a goody do gooder.
So we’ve been lied to. There are immigrants on the island. What the actual f*ck is going on.
Lied to? We live in the UK, free to move about as we wish. Somebody lands at Dover and makes their way here – simple. Of course they are here, they are everywhere.
Of course there are immigrants on the island, it’ll be hard to visit literally any town or city anywhere in the world and not have immigrants. You do know that ‘immigrants’ doesn’t mean undocumented, right? It’s literally just a term for someone who no longer lives in the country they were born in…
Ive got 4 foreign friends, 1 Italian, 1 Polish and 2 Irish … should I call immigration and get them checked for you?
“There are immigrants on the Island”!!! What a hilarious comment. I think your world view needs tweaking a little. It is the 21st century. Has it occurred to you that the Island is FULL of immigrants – from Europe, the US, Australia, NZ and, in my case Africa? We’re all ‘legal’. I suspect we’re all very nice people. I have lived here since 1960 . . . a bit longer than you I suspect! Take your blinkers off please and see yourself as a world citizen rather than a narrow minded, blinkered Islander. Thanks.
Why not it’s a free country
Eastern eye next?
If you have something to say about Eastern Eye, feel free to say it openly rather than making cheap insinuations from behind a keyboard.
We carry out strict right-to-work checks in line with Home Office rules and regulations, and everything at Eastern Eye is above board.
Rather than speculating in an online comment, you’re welcome to come and speak to me directly.
Let me know a suitable day and time and I’ll be happy to demonstrate that we take our legal responsibilities very seriously.
Eastern Eye
01983 407770
If you have something to say about Eastern Eye, feel free to say it openly rather than making cheap insinuations from behind a keyboard.
We carry out strict right-to-work checks in line with Home Office rules and regulations, and everything at Eastern Eye is above board.
Rather than speculating in an online comment, you’re welcome to come and speak to me directly.
Let me know a suitable day and time and I’ll be happy to demonstrate that we take our legal responsibilities very seriously.
Eastern Eye
01983 407770
shut the barber shop down as well as prosecute the renters / owners as an accessory to immigration…. check the accounts and deport all that have violated the law
What’s an accessory to immigration? Never heard of that one.
Ah yes, Sunshine, self-appointed defence counsel for illegal workers. Bail doesn’t equal a right to be here, ‘accessory to immigration offence’ is a real charge, and working when you’re not allowed to is still illegal. Don’t you have anything better to do than insulting the intelligence of concerned hardworking British islanders?
Laura – See what happens when you give this aerosol the time of day? Just ignore the cnut.
Well said. First sensible comment on here so far.
Tip of the iceberg I reckon… check all the other hairdressers out as well and nail bars especially in Ryde
Sure they’ve got a few
While I would be the first to condemn illegal working, this was a good barbers shop, spotlessly clean and professional, and an asset to Sandown. The government has made it practically impossible for anyone to run a flourishing business legally in a dump like Sandown.
Completely agree.
This was by far the best business in Sandown.
Professional service, high quality, reasonable cost, long hours.
No grumpy man complaining he can’t use scissors like occured in a now long closed barbers, no dodgy wrestling chat.
But – Like the Vietnamese Nail Bar down the road – Clearly the Kurdish employees might not be fully legal.
Proof other nationalities are better workers.
Britain has become a nation of shirkers.
That’s because the government pay them to be shirkers.
They are usually busy, plenty of persons use this barbers.
Easy to check their credentials before employing them, SIMPLES.
So they let them go
I’d like to point out that it’s the ‘working’ bit that is illegal. Other countries allow their migrants to work (and pay tax) while right to remain is processed. But not here. How very stupid. And no, they can’t claim benefits either.
Excellent news! Well done Immigration Enforcement. Now if you could concentrate on the illegal Africans here whose numbers seem to be increasing exponentially that would be very welcome too.
On the island? Which illegal Africans would that be then?
Why?
We’ve been lied to again. The immigrants are already here. What the actual f*ck is going on??
They could be on visas visiting, they could be dependents, they could be on seasonal worker visas…all restrict employment. They could also be family of successful and legally here asylum claimants, and studying. That too restricts employment. No where in the carefully-worded report does it say there were targetted as being here illegally, only that they were working.
Go to St Mary’s Hospital.
Migrants have been working there as doctors, nurses, therapists, etc., etc. for decades.
Without immigration the NHS would collapse within days. Possibly hours.
Only a complete fool would deny the positive contribution that migration makes to the UK.
Economically and culturally migration is good for us all.
That is so true and they are grafters.
Personally prefer to be able to understand my doctor or hospital staff. Grateful they are here but perplexed at times by the communication barrier.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but please don’t use offensive language, (however it is camouflaged) to express it here, it lowers the tone of the Island Echo as a respectable publication.
Some people express their opinion through calm eloquence.
Some people use angry expletives to express their opinion.
Both are equally valid.
You can’t claim to support freedom of thought and expression if you then seek to control how that freedom is expressed.
Well said
When adult migrants are permitted to work they become net-contributors to the UK economy.
It is absolute madness that successive governments have not allowed those awaiting decisions on migration status to work and support themselves.
These people don’t have recourse to public funds to support themselves. Work would allow them to self-fund rather than relying on charity or criminality.
Work is good for individuals, communities and the wider economy.
Maybe the RNLI will help them aplly for citizenship
I hope you never need rescuing at sea
I hope your daughter doesn’t meet these men in the street.
Because British blokes are all perfect gentlemen, right?
Oh no, it seems that there are good and bad in all demographics:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/sep/13/female-asylum-seekers-report-rapes-sexual-assaults-by-british-men
Who could have guessed?
Well said.
Did you read in the press this morning that the result of xenophobic morons spewing hatred at the RNLI has been a surge in donations for the RNLI..!
Who’d have thought that the likes of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and Daniel Thomas would be so useful to such wonderful charity?
The RNLI do a great job and deserve respect.
The Country would be lost without this great service.
Did the article mention that there have also been a surge of cancellations of donations? Probably not, because this is how the propaganda machine works. It says a lot that you believe what you are spoon-fed in the “press”.
Yes. The article did mention withdrawal of support from some people.
But the RNLI report an upwards trend in support despite that.
Decent people it seems outnumber the xenophobic morons.
Don’t be a Numpty all your life.
I can’t see how just doing a few haircuts a day can fund the money spent moving from one shop to another and paying rent for both premises. it would never pay so something is amiss here.
It’s a cover for something else ,loads of them all over the island,always empty
Raj bought up quite a few properties in Sandown only for them to quickly go down the pan and be left in a dilapidated state, he then went on to become Sandown’s Mayor you couldn’t make it up
Thats the barbers that hasn’t been open long.
can Nick two barbers just tryna cut hair and are really nice people but yet treat real immigrants like they are king
They need to go to east street car wash. They are the centre of Ryde’s drug supply.
Illegal Immigrants are here illegally so deport back to their own country quickly before they disappear into the background.
It’s getting out of hand here on the Island they need to get this sorted.
All these nail bars.
All these shops selling foreign food popping up.
Barbers.
Car washes.
Etc
We don’t need them or want them here.
The success of some of these endeavours suggests that the “we” who don’t want them is a minority.
Which “foreign food” do you object to?
Spuds? Rice? Wheat? Tomatoes? Oranges? Spices? Tea? Coffee? Carrots? Pasta? Pizza? Turkey? Baked beans?
I guess you subsist on a diet that would’ve been familiar to Boudicca?
“All these shops selling foreign food popping up”
Absolutely,..
the government must act urgently and decisively to close down all places selling Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican and Italian food!!!
don’t want any of that foreign sh1t around here… Meat & two veg only!
I regularly get my haircut in a Turkish barbers on the island. The owner has a family with children in school, his wife is friendly and they contribute positively to society. I would have a town full of people like this vs some of the cretins that walk our streets that were born in the uk.
There are undesirables from every culture, regardless of where they were born.
I agree people should be working legally, and have permission to be here, but some comments on this article are clearly aimed at anyone who wasn’t born in this country.
Spot on
Cool. Also check all of these new African/Asian supermarket’s, nail bars, vape shops, phone shops and other barber shops… High fines and jail time for ALL involved…
They let them out on bail then they disappear never to be seen again.. They should be taken direct to airport and deported.Hope the barbers were fined the £10k each.
All these barber shops are for money laundering anyway
All of them?
Thats a bold claim.
Can you substantiate it?
of course it can’t …
just repeating the same old claims spread around on social media, without any evidence or proof.
Oh the controversy!
send them all back
send them all back…
so you printed this story, but like a lot of your stuff, no follow up, my immediate response is that I won’t be using this barbers again, which is pretty rash considering I don’t know all the facts, how many others are thinking like that, let’s hear the follow up once it’s known, I’ll be watching