A restaurant owner has been convicted of two offences of assisting unlawful immigration after falsely claiming that two migrants worked as chefs at his Isle of Man restaurant.

Mohammed Ali Enayet, 55, made the claims in documents submitted to support the pair's visa and visa extension applications.

However, both were working in Preston, while the company was not actively trading on the island.

Enayet, of Lightfoot Lane, Fulwood, Preston, denied two counts of assisting unlawful immigration.

Following a two-day trial in the summary court this week, magistrates found him guilty of both offences.

The offences took place between April 2019 and January 2025.

Magistrates fined Enayet £7,500 on each count, a total of £15,000, and ordered him to pay £1,900 in prosecution costs.

He was also made subject to an exclusion order banning him from entering the Isle of Man for five years.

The case centred on false claims about employment at the Isle of Man restaurant.