A young mum and her two children are to be flown to China after a dawn raid by the Home Office this morning in Glasgow.

Her husband Kefei Lin, 27, claims Min Lin, 30, was handcuffed at Glasgow Airport and their distraught 5-year-old daughter and infant son detained in a separate room.

Their ordeal began at 6.45am when Border Force staff arrived at their home in Bridgeton.

Speaking through an interpreter, a tearful Mr Lin said: “We were sleeping when there was a loud knock. My wife got up and answered the door and about ten people in dark coloured uniforms burst in.

“I was told to sit on the sofa and not to move. My wife and children were taken into another room. They were crying and very scared. I was then told to pack some belongings for my family.”

Shortly after Mrs Lin, who recently had an application for asylum turned down, was bundled into a van with her children, Siya and Mario, who is 15 months.

Mr Lin, whose asylum case has not yet concluded and is still in Glasgow, later received a call from his panic-stricken wife who told him she and their children were to be put on a plane to Heathrow then flown to China at 5.40pm.

He said: “My wife told she was handcuffed. The children taken away. They were crying. She was crying.

“They were all flown to Heathrow at 1.45pm and they will be sent to Beijing at 5.40pm. I don’t know what to do. She doesn’t know what’s going on.

“The Home Office are supposed to give us notice but we were only issued with a removal direction this morning. I contacted my lawyer but there isn’t much they can do when my family are already at the airport.”

Mr Lin claims human traffickers brought them to the UK under duress and he fears for his wife’s safety when she returned to Beijing.

He said: “We were brought here and forced to work. We managed to escape so if my wife goes back her life is in danger. She can’t go back.”

The Scottish Government minister for Social Justice, Alex Neil, has slammed the family’s treatment by the Home Office as “completely unacceptable”.

He said: “Scotland has for years made clear that dawn raids are deplorable and unnecessary. I will be writing to the Home office to seek an urgent explanation about the treatment of this family and why protocols appear not to have been followed.

“The Scottish Government believes asylum seekers and refugees must be treated humanely and fairly, and with their dignity and rights upheld, at every stage of the asylum process. 

“This is particularly important in cases where claims are not successful, where people are returned to their countries of origin and where children are involved.”

The family’s local MSP, John Mason, said: “This is a particularly distressing case as children are involved and a dawn raid was clearly unnecessary. We are not just talking about one individual here but a family is involved. The UK government seems to put very little emphasis on the value of family and of family life.

“China’s human rights record is clearly patchy at best. I know that a lot depends on different local governments allowing people different amounts of freedom. However, it remains true that anyone speaking out against the government on religion, politics, or a range of other subjects is taking a big risk.

“I very much hope that this family will be quickly reunited in a safe environment.”

Robina Qureshi, Director of Positive Action in Housing, a charity which works with refugees, said: “It’s not just the way this family has been treated, which is disgusting and traumatising, it’s the fact that this was something that we were supposed to have stopped in 2006. We campaigned against dawn raids but only recently they appear to have been scaled up again.

“We are often dealing with families whose cases have merit and yet they are being treated inhumanely. My fear is they are most likely sending this woman back to her death.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who genuinely need it, and every case is carefully considered on its individual merits.

“Protection was found not to be needed in this case, and this decision was upheld in the courts by an independent immigration judge. In addition, the case was overseen by the Independent Family Returns Panel.

“We expect those found to have no right to be in the UK to leave, and provide help and support in returning to their own country. If people choose not to leave we will enforce removal.”