Corporate Owners Keep Raided 7-Elevens Open

One day after federal agents raided two North Fork 7-Elevens, shutting them down after their owners were arrested on charges of employer abuse, both were back open Tuesday as the corporation took over operations.

A spokeswoman representing 7-Eleven said that the company's business model consists of a mix of franchises and corporation-owned stores. While the Cutchogue and Greenport locations were two of eight that were owned by Farrukh Baig on Long Island – each of which were shut down – corporate employees from nearby locations were operating the stores on Tuesday.

Baig was one of nine individuals indicted on Monday, which included his wife, Bushra. The couple, along with six others, are alleged to have forced their employees – all, undocumented immigrants – to work long hours for low wages, getting around the system by using false identities to mask the time they actually spent on the clock.

All defendants in the case pleaded not guilty during their court arraignments Monday. They were detained without bail, according to the Department of Justice.

Compounding the crime, authorities said Baig then paid the illegal workers a fraction of their actual earnings and forced them to live in housing Baig and his family owned in exchange for rent taken out of their meager cash-only pay.

Witnessing the raid early Monday morning at the Cutchogue 7-Eleven, neighbor Tom Wickham said his initial reaction was that the company had evaded sales taxes.

"You see that often – sometimes they sweep in and shut down a business overnight," Wickham said. He added that while he gets his coffee there every morning, and knew plenty of the employees, "they never said there were any problems. But maybe there was. I'm no confidant of theirs. I just go there for coffee."

According to the Suffolk Times, the Greenport shop opened Monday afternoon.