The convictions follow investigations carried out by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).

Rolandas Linkevicius of Mountain View Drive, Newry, County Down, and Aurimas Andrijauskas of Maple Grove, also in Newry, were each fined £750, plus offender levies of £15 after pleading guilty to acting as unlicensed gangmasters.

Their business, Coastal Seafoods Ltd, was found to have been operating with eight workers out picking shellfish across Northern Ireland without a GLAA licence between October 2016 and May 2017.

Also prosecuted was Airidas Grabausks of Clonmore, Newry, County Down. Grabausks, a director of A&A Seafood Ltd in the city, admitted acting as an unlicensed gangmaster between November 2016 and May 2017 by employing workers to pick shellfish across Northern Ireland. He was fined £500, as well as an offender levy of £15.

It is a criminal offence to provide labour in the shellfish sector without a GLAA licence. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and a fine.

It is also an offence to use labour provided by unlicensed labour providers. This offence carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a fine.

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