Surprise for driver as “illegal immigrants” found in lorry

Alleged immigrants detained by authorities in 2010 pic: UK Home Office

Alleged immigrants detained by authorities in 2010 pic: UK Home Office

Suspected illegal immigrants were discovered in a lorry in Thornton Heath yesterday afternoon, after the driver called police with concerns that people were in the back of his vehicle.

The lorry driver pulled over at around 2:30pm on Bensham Lane. Officers arrived at the scene and discovered six men and women in the rear of the vehicle.

The group were arrested on suspicion of committing immigration offences and taken to a south London police station. They have since been transferred and are now being dealt with by the UK Border Agency.

The driver of the vehicle was not arrested or detained. Reports have suggested that the lorry had Italian number plates.

Today the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced that a Labour government would recruit an extra 1,000 staff to the UK Border Agency. There are currently between 7,000 and 8,000 frontline employees.

Cooper said: “Enforcement has got worse in the last five years…A smaller proportion of people absconding at the border are being found and we recently discovered 175,000 failed asylum seekers may not be removed because the Department has ‘limited resources’.”

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