2 owners of Indian restaurants operating in Amsterdam arrested in human smuggling probe

The Criminal Investigation Department of the Netherlands Labour Authority reported that it arrested two suspects, owners of three international Indian restaurant chains, on suspicion of involvement in human smuggling and labor exploitation. The owners allegedly made 4 million euros from their workers not being paid for overtime. The two operate at least one restaurant in Amsterdam.

Two men are suspected of systematically abusing a special visa program for Asian restaurants, abolished in 2022. Businesses were allowed to easily bring specialized Asian cooks to the Netherlands under the program without first having to exclusively recruit within Europe.

The Authority's investigation found that the chains in question made an extensive use of the program, with more than 70 combined residence and work permits issued for their applicants. However, in dozens of the applications, the companies allegedly lied to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service about the employees’ work. Most of the workers were not cooks but were giving cleaning, dishwashing, or management jobs instead.

Applications also misrepresented the wages the employees received as well as their work hours. The workers allegedly worked 60 to 80 hours a week and received no extra pay for overtime.

“The suspects are believed to have obtained more than 4 million euros in unlawful profits from this,” the Labour Authority said.