A British man was arrested for allegedly working at an illegal nursery on a Thai island.

Daniel Stewart, 38, was found working without an employment permit during a police raid on the unauthorised daycare for foreign children on Koh Pha Ngan in Surat Thani province on March 14.

He was detained along with four other foreign nationals identified by officers as Israeli national Alon Jacob, 50, South African woman Louise Cilliers, 42, Burmese woman Hla Hla Win, 28, and the nursery owner, Israeli woman Suli Shulamite Avraham, 56.

Police said there were around 70 foreign toddlers at the nursery.

Noppadol Khaomali, chief of the Koh Pha Ngan district, said: 'Daniel and Alon, were charged with working without the legally required work permit, while Louise and Hla Hla were charged with working without a work permit, failing to notify their employer, workplace location, and type of work to the local registrar.

'Meanwhile, the Israeli owner Suli was charged with being a foreign national operating a nursery without permission, employing foreigners without work permits' and failing to report the employment of foreign workers to the local registrar.'

All five foreigners were taken to the Koh Pha Ngan police station for further legal proceedings.

This month, an American woman was arrested for running another illegal nursery on the same island where the notorious Full Moon Party takes place.

Jennifer Keanne Irwin, 40, from New York, allegedly opened the daycare centre for foreign children in a coconut plantation on the island. She was caught by police on March 6 along with three foreign babysitters.

The raids came amid a wider crackdown on foreigners running businesses in Thailand following outrage over the case of a Swiss man who kicked a Thai woman for sitting on his beachfront garden steps in Phuket.

Urs Beat Fehr, 45, now faces having his visa revoked as he was deemed a 'threat to social peace'.