Former sumo wrestler Kotomitsuki was arrested Wednesday for allegedly employing non-Japanese without valid visas at his barbecue restaurant in Nagoya, police said.

The former ozeki, whose real name is Keiji Tamiya, 37, employed a Chinese person and a Thai person despite knowing that the former had overstayed his visa and the latter had entered Japan illegally, the police said.

The two non-Japanese were arrested last month on suspicion of violating the immigration control law.

Besides Kotomitsuki, a Japanese man in his 30s who works at the restaurant was also arrested, according to the police.

The former wrestler, who reached sumo’s second-highest rank in the makuuchi division in 2007, was banned from sumo in July 2010 for his involvement in betting on baseball.