TOI correspondent from London: Police and immigration officers conducted a dawn raid on a property belonging to one of Britain’s largest gurdwaras and arrested one man.The property, 11 Beaconsfield Road, is one of around eight properties belonging to Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall. The properties are meant to house staff serving the gurdwara and visiting preachers from India.The gurdwara executive committee confirmed the raid took place at 6.30am on Dec 16 and said that a person “not approved by the current committee”, but who was known to an employee of the gurdwara, was “detained and taken into custody by police”.Police have not confirmed what he was arrested for, but a member of the congregation told TOI an Indian-origin Sikh man was arrested for drugs and money laundering and that he is the son of a person who works at the gurdwara.“Police executed a search warrant for criminal activity and because the house was full of preachers, they had concerns about illegal immigrants, so the immigration service was then called. The police bashed down every door and detained everyone and handcuffed them while they were searched and checked,” he said. “There have been immigration raids in the past on gurdwara properties and illegals have been detained,” he said.The executive committee said it was undertaking a review of all its properties and “individuals not involved in Sabha-related activities and those without formal agreements” had been asked to vacate.One of its properties had been given by a former committee free of charge to Aasra Welfare UK, a women’s refuge which helps women and children fleeing domestic abuse, including those without legal status in the UK.Jaskaran Kaur Shergill, director of Aasra, said the committee had now asked her to return the keys but the three women and five children living there had nowhere to go. “They can’t evict people who are at risk,” she said.Gurdwara secretary Surinder Singh Dhatt said the refuge has been served notice as “we don’t know who is living there. We want to know who is living in each place and make sure there are no illegal immigrants”. He added the gurdwara had filed a complaint with the police about the raid. “They should have informed the gurdwara in advance. It has caused a lot of distress to everyone,” he said.
