ABU DHABI // Five bakery workers have been found living in a secret compartment in the roof of the shop.
The Pakistanis - the shop's owner and four of his relatives who worked with him - were discovered by health inspectors.
The men entered the compartment by climbing up the oven on to a fake ceiling they had built.
Khalifa Al Rumaithi, director of the public health division at the municipality, said the compartment was hidden from public view.
It had "electrical extensions and rudimentary sewage piping, while lacking health factors such as sunlight or proper air circulation".
The workers were hiding in the compartment when inspectors visited the bakery.
"They had to remove part of the ceiling, then they closed it behind them," Mr Al Rumaithi said. "They did this without any permission.
"We asked them to move out immediately and they removed the upper deck the same day. "
The workers were living in the tiny space to save money on accommodation but have since moved into a rented apartment.
The bakery is in Madinat Zayed, near the central post office. It was not revealed when the men were found.
"Places like this lack the basic principles of public health and are mostly overcrowded with workers and may sometimes be used as casual stores or even storage for gas cylinders," Mr Al Rumaithi said. "The municipality acts on these contraventions according to provisions of the law."
Offenders are usually given a one-week grace period to relocate, but face prosecution if they continued to flout the rules.
The regulations ensure people are living in suitable accommodation standards, Mr Al Rumaithi said, and the municipality carries out routine inspections of business and residential buildings.
Permits are required to maintain appropriate living standards.
The municipality held a workshop last month to stress the importance of safe living accommodation for workers.
At the event, Salah Awad Al Sarraj, acting executive director of the municipality's town-planning sector, said: "The municipality's strategy, objectives and values are focused on providing services and ensuring a safe and secure living environment for workers.
"The municipality continuously undertakes programmes aimed at raising public awareness to explain and demonstrate the values and rudimentary needs required to secure appropriate and healthy housing for workers."
The Government announced last December that Dh20 billion would be spent on 23 labour cities across the emirate.
The aim is to provide lower-income workers with high-quality apartments and nearly double the amount of accommodation units available to them.
More than a hundred illegal immigrants were found in 2011 living in poor conditions at a workshop in the Mussaffah industrial area, having fled their sponsors.
The owner of the building, who was later arrested, employed them on a daily wage.
