If the INM is getting involved and they are ‘suspected human traffickers’ then there is likely much more to the story. I wonder where the employees are from.
The employees may well be other smuggled Asians. NYC was full of these little sweatshops (often run by Koreans) that had Chinese slave-workers. Some were smuggled in illegally, but others had been brought here semi-legally (that is, they entered legally and went through immigration procedures, but just for a tourist stay) with promises of a “good job,” etc., and then found they were in debt to the smugglers for many thousands of dollars and had to work in these garment factories until they paid it off (which would be never). And they were the lucky ones...young women often ended up as prostitutes working in the storeroom of a Chinese restaurant.