A POLICE sweep of nail bars across the city has uncovered the dark side of Glasgow's beauty industry.

Officers descended on nine nail bars across Glasgow searching for illegal immigrants and victims of human trafficking.

And a total of 29 people were arrested by immigration officers for a variety of immigration offences.

The Evening Times joined officers as they launched a raid on USA Nails and Beauty in the St Enoch Centre.

Immigration staff, aided by an interpreter, quizzed South East Asian men present in the Nail Bar while HM Revenue and Customs took a look at the books.

Two men were arrested in the sweep, one who was working illegally and a second who had been smuggled into Scotland but had never claimed asylum.

At the same time, nail bars on Dumbarton Road, Victoria Road, Pollokshaws Road, Union Street and Duke Street were also targeted.

Money laundering, people smuggling, illegal workers and drugs were described as "prolific in the industry" by Sergeant Grant McHarrie, who was leading the operation.

Mr McHarrie said: "We could be finding victims of human trafficking, there could be drugs on the premises that we are discovering.

"Cannabis cultivation is prevalent in organised crime and we want to disrupt these people and deprive them of their money.

"The fact there are no licensing regulations for nail bars makes them an easy front for criminals.

"Eventually we would hope to see licensing introduced for these premises but for now we are looking to disrupt activity where any of these people could be integral cogs in the serious and organised crime wheel."

Yesterday's efforts were dubbed Operation Platform, part of a Scotland-wide serious and organised crime crackdown called Operation Harpina.

Friday morning's raids had been in the planning for between two and three months.

The series of raids involved Police Scotland, Home Office Immigration Enforcement, HM Revenue and Customs, the National Crime Agency, Trading Standards human trafficking branch, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Scottish Power.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said: "Illegal workers have no place in the United Kingdom and through our combined work with the police we are committed to rooting out and removing the people who simply should not be here.

"Illegal working is not victimless. It undercuts employers who ply an honest trade and robs legitimate job seekers of opportunities to work. It can also exploit some of society's most vulnerable people.

"We will continue to come down hard on the rogue employers who use illegal labour, whether by financial penalty or conviction."

An HMRC spokesman said: "HMRC Officers supported law enforcement colleagues investigating suspected illegal employment. HMRC Officers seized business records and will investigate any suspected breaches of tax laws."