SEVEN beauty workers were arrested as cops swooped on Glasgow nail salons during a blitz on suspected gangsters.

Plain-clothed police and immigration officers descended on five nail bars across Scotland yesterday morning.

The Evening Times joined authorities as months of painstaking investigation work culminated in the dramatic raids in Glasgow, Ayrshire and Bathgate.

The group - all males aged between 20 and 41 - were held in connection with a variety of alleged immigration offences.

We joined a squad of officers who carried out a search of American Nails in Trongate, where one male was arrested.

The majority of suspects are believed to be Vietnamese.

Police said the raids were aimed as disrupting the activities of South East Asian groups suspected of being involved in serious and organised crime.

Sergeant Grant McHarrie said the raids were part of a Scotland-wide initiative against serious and organised crime.

He said: "The main aim is to disrupt these serious organised crime groups as much as possible.

"We will use whatever tactics we can to make life difficult for people involved in serious organised crime."

Glasgow Nails in Bain Street, Calton and New York Nails in Paisley Road West were also targeted as part of day of activity, code-named Operation Spin.

Two of the eight suspects were arrested at Amy Nails, in Ayr, while another was held at Las Vegas Nails in Bathgate.

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

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "Nail bars are an easy front for criminals and can be used to launder money, as well as smuggle or traffick people into the country

"The aim of today's operation was to identify any immigration offences and deal with them."

Police were also briefed to be on the lookout for a missing teenage Vietnamese boy who may have travelled to Glasgow.

Huu Ngyen Loe, 14, was last seen in Brimham Close, Ingleby Barwick, in Yorkshire on Monday.

Police said he speaks limited English.

He is 5ft tall, with black hair and his left ear is pierced.

However, there was no trace of him at any of the salons.

There are currently no licensing regulations for nail bars, which makes them an easy front for criminals.

Police said they were hopeful that licensing could be introduced for these premises.

Earlier this week, the Evening Times revealed how the same police squad that led yesterday's raid have stopped city gangsters from getting their hands on more than £5million in business contracts.

Detective Superintendent Andy Gunn, head of the Organised Crime Unit in Glasgow, said his officers would do whatever it takes to disrupt gangsters' illegal activities.

Police believe 128 companies in Glasgow are fronts for organised crime and 46 serious and organised crime groups are linked to the "seemingly legitimate businesses".

DS Gunn said: "There are two strands to our strategy - disrupt and deter.

"What Police Scotland's Intervention Unit achieves is hugely important in tackling serious and organised crime.

"Sometimes, the criminal justice element of a case doesn't always get us the results that we want.

"But the work of the Intervention Unit has a real outcome and a real impact.

"By stopping those involved in serious and organised crime getting their hands on legitimate cash, they then may become involved in illegal activity, which makes it easier to detect and arrest them."

Arrests can lead to employers being hit by fines of up to £20,000 for each worker, unless they can demonstrate that proper checks were carried out on passports and other documents.