Police swoop on two shops

An Indian national was arrested at one shop and a Sri Lankan national at the other.

Arriving in unmarked cars, the officers executed warrants to search JJ's Corner Store in St George's Road at about 6.30am and the JJ's supermarket shop at Seabourne Court, Seabourne Road, at Pebsham.

The firm runs a third JJ store, the Premier at Church Hill, Little Common.

A spokesman for the Immigration Service confirmed later in response to Observer inquiries about St George's Road: "The Immigration Service conducted an operation on January 11 targeting premises in Bexhill.

"One immigration offender was found, an Indian national. His case is currently being processed."

He confirmed that a second raid had been carried out in Bexhill, at Seabourne Road, and that a Sri Lankan national had been detained for further investigation.

An eyewitness said on Wednesday: "It was about 6.30am today. I was in the shop when two PCs came in.

"Two more came in after that. Another was standing by the door and two more were at the side of the house. There were about eight of them in all.

"They had 'Immigration Service' on their shoulder flashes.

"They said 'Can you get your stuff and go?'

"We went outside. They had cars but they were undercover (unmarked).

"After a while we tried to get back in but they said 'No, wait.' So we didn't wait to see what was going on. I did see two officers going into the back of the shop."

The Pebsham store was still closed yesterday.