#murraystreet — Public Fediverse posts

LLANELLI: Takeaway stripped of late-night licence after illegal workers found twice in five months

A Llanelli takeaway has lost the licence that let it trade into the early hours, after a council hearing was told immigration officers found illegal workers there twice in five months.

A Carmarthenshire Council licensing sub-committee revoked the premises licence for the All In One takeaway on Murray Street — which had allowed opening until 3.30am on Fridays and Saturdays, and late hours every night of the week.

The takeaway can now no longer open after 11pm. The revocation can be appealed.

Haci Ali Turkmen, who owned the business at the time of the visits, was handed an £80,000 civil penalty, which the sub-committee heard remains unpaid. His company, St Kebab & Pizza Ltd, went into liquidation the month after the fine was issued.

Mr Turkmen has since sold the business — but the premises licence was never transferred to the new owner, the council’s legal officer Robert Edgecombe told the meeting.

Two visits, three workers

A Home Office case summary before the committee said the first visit, in February 2025, found a man handling potatoes with flour-covered hands who told officers he was preparing food for himself and not working — but CCTV showed him cooking and serving customers. Checks showed he had entered the UK illegally the previous July and had no right to work.

When officers returned in July 2025, the summary said, a man behind the counter walked to the rear of the premises and sat on a freezer, telling officers it was his first day — before saying he had been helping for a few weeks. A second man initially claimed he was there to charge his phone.

Home Office checks showed both had entered the UK illegally, in 2023, and neither had the right to work — one was in breach of work restrictions while appealing a refused protection claim.

Mr Turkmen told officers the two had worked there for months, paid in cash along with food and cigarettes, and said he had assumed they were allowed to work based on the wording of their biometric residence cards.

“How am I going to know?”

Mr Turkmen, who told the meeting his English was not good, maintained the cards said work was allowed. “How am I going to know?” he asked councillors, appealing for the licence to stay in place for the takeaway’s new owner.

The case summary said it was concerning that no preventative measures — such as right-to-work checks — were put in place after the first visit, noting Mr Turkmen was present during both.

Alex Romano, of the Home Office’s immigration enforcement department, told the meeting Mr Turkmen had made assumptions about the cards and that proper right-to-work checks were not undertaken.

She said the ability to work illegally was a key driver of illegal migration: “It exposes individuals to exploitation and fuels dangerous journeys facilitated by people smugglers and unfairly disadvantages legitimate businesses that comply with the law.”

Enforcement across the county

The hearing comes amid stepped-up enforcement in the area. Last month, six people were arrested at Florentino’s restaurants in Carmarthen and Tenby, and a Gower construction site was among hundreds of businesses visited in what the Home Office called its largest crackdown on illegal working last autumn.

It is not only immigration enforcement putting pressure on non-compliant businesses in the county — Carmarthenshire’s Trading Standards team has been shutting illegal vape sellers at record pace.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

IMMIGRATION RAID: Six arrested at Italian restaurant chain’s Carmarthen and Tenby branches
Last month’s Immigration Enforcement visits to Florentino’s restaurants.

Gower construction site raided in UK’s largest crackdown on illegal working
The Home Office’s record enforcement push reached the region last autumn.

VAPING CRACKDOWN: What the new rules mean for a county already at war with illegal vapes
Carmarthenshire’s Trading Standards team and the fight against rogue sellers.

LLANELLI: Woman charged with robbery and shoplifting after string of incidents at Asda, Home Bargains and Tesco Extra

A 41-year-old woman from Llanelli has been charged with two counts of robbery and two counts of shoplifting following a series of incidents at supermarkets across the town, Dyfed Powys Police have confirmed.

Kara Racuoco, of Llanelli, was charged following reports of offences at Asda on Murray Street, Home Bargains on Station Road and Tesco Extra at Parc Trostre between April and May.

The first incident was reported on Tuesday 7 April at Asda on Murray Street, where two bottles of wine were said to have been taken. A shop assistant was reported to have been threatened during the incident, leading to a robbery charge.

The second offence was reported on Tuesday 5 May at Home Bargains on Station Road, where a bottle of wine was said to have been taken without any attempt to pay. This incident led to a shoplifting charge.

Two further offences were reported on 16 and 17 May. On Saturday 16 May, two joints of beef were reported stolen from Asda on Murray Street, with threatening behaviour again reported during the incident — resulting in a second robbery charge.

The following day, Sunday 17 May, a further shoplifting offence was reported at Tesco Extra at Parc Trostre, where around £95 worth of meat was said to have been taken from the store.

Racuoco denied all four charges when she appeared at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Monday 18 May. She was remanded into custody following the hearing.

A pre-trial plea hearing has been listed at Swansea Crown Court on Friday 19 June.

Dyfed Powys Police confirmed enquiries into all four offences are continuing.