Stowaways caught in Berkshire bound lorry

Published 25 Aug 2010 17:00

A GROUP of stowaways have been caught trying to sneak into Britain in the back of a lorry carrying chemicals to a Thatcham depot.

The four women and one man from Eritrea were discovered in the lorry bound for Colthrop Lane last Thursday after a UK Border Agency sniffer dog in Calais detected their scent and alerted his handler.

The stowaways were handed over to the French Border Police while the vehicle was allowed to continue to Britain. The driver and haulage company could face a fine if they are unable to prove they had taken steps to secure the vehicle,

UK Border Agency’s head of European operations, Carole Upshall, said: “This is exactly why we base so many of our staff in France and Belgium, to stop illegal immigrants before they can reach the UK.

“As well as using sniffer dogs our staff also have heartbeat detectors and carbon dioxide probes to detect the presence of people hiding in lorries.”

In 2009 more than 29,000 attempts to cross the Channel illegally were prevented.

Tweet

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @rdgchronicle