The Home Office has arrested a number of moped delivery drivers for allegedly working illegally.

Operations in Medway, Maidstone and Bluewater Shopping Centre in Greenhithe during a week-long crackdown saw multiple Deliveroo, JustEat and UberEats drivers arrested.

Officers were deployed across the county between Sunday, April 16 and Friday, April 21.

As a result, the delivery drivers were arrested on suspicion of a number offences including working illegally and possessing of false documents.

Employers can also be jailed for five years and pay an unlimited fine if they are found guilty of employing someone they knew or had “reasonable cause to believe” does not have the right to work in the UK.

Out of the 60 people arrested, 11 were working in the South East, which was the third highest total in comparison to other areas around the country.

In south London, 16 people were arrested, with 12 more in west London, while six people were detained in north London.

Six more were arrested in south central England, five more in central London, with another four people arrested in the east of England.

The government says the operation led to the seizure of items suspected of being linked to criminal activity.

This included imitation firearms and other weapons, as well as more than £4,500 in cash.

Of the 60 people arrested, 44 were detained by the Home Office, pending their removal from the UK.

The remaining 16 have been released on immigration bail.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Illegal working damages our communities, cheats honest workers out of employment and defrauds the public purse.

“As the Prime Minister has set out, we are committed to going further and faster to prevent the abuse of our laws and borders.

“The British public deserve a labour market that is fair and honest and must have confidence that goods and services they buy are from legitimate businesses.”

Eddy Montgomery, director of enforcement, compliance and crime at Immigration Enforcement, added: “By raising awareness of the risks and consequences of illegal working, we are helping ensure businesses are complying with the rules.

“Our enforcement teams are working around the clock to deter immigration offending and change behaviours that compromise public safety.”

The Home Office has confirmed there are plans to roll out the operation to other areas in the country.

Deliveroo works with self-employed riders but says all checks are carried out prior to on-boarding and during their employment. .

The firm says it has also introduced new facial recognition technology, which checks the identity of riders while they are working.

A Deliveroo spokesperson said: “All Deliveroo riders must have the right to work in the UK, in order to have an account with the company.

“Deliveroo takes a zero tolerance approach towards any rider who fails to meet their legal obligations when working with us.

‘We take our responsibilities extremely seriously...’

“If a rider is found to be without the right to work in the UK, we will stop working with them with immediate effect.”

“We take our responsibilities extremely seriously and we will always work in close collaboration with the relevant authorities to support their efforts in this area.”

Deliveroo told KentOnline it had asked the Home Office for the specific number of riders who worked with Deliveroo but were not given this data.

A Just Eat Takeaway.com spokesperson said: "We have high standards and a robust criteria in place for couriers delivering on behalf of Just Eat.

“This includes ensuring couriers are over the age of 18, carrying out basic criminal checks (DBS), and making sure they have the right to work in the UK.

"If we find that our high expectations are not met, we will investigate and immediately take action, including removing couriers from our network."

An Uber Eats spokesperson also confirmed to KentOnline it also carries out the same checks on all couriers using its app and it runs checks to ensure account holders have the correct documents.

They said: “There is no place for illegal work on our platform, and we take these allegations extremely seriously.

“Any courier that fails to meet these criteria will have their access to the app removed, and we stand ready to work with the police with any investigation.”