Immigrant suspects found in lorries

Drivers face heavy fines for smuggling illegal immigrants

Police have found 43 suspected illegal immigrants from 10 countries hiding in three lorries on the M20 in Kent.

A lorry driver alerted police to the three tipper lorries that had stopped at Junction 6 near Maidstone, at about 0900GMT on Tuesday.

Passing motorists also called the police when they saw the group hiding under tarpaulins in the lorries.

Police said they had no evidence to suggest that the lorry drivers were helping the group to enter the UK.

It was certainly an unusually high amount to be found in one instance

Kent Police

The group consists of 28 men, three women and 12 children - from Nepal, Albania, Yugoslavia, India, Kosovo, Turkey, Chechnya, Montenegro, Iran and Afghanistan, a spokesman for the Immigration Service said.

The suspected illegal immigrants were taken to a screening unit in Dover to be interviewed by immigration officials, but none has yet claimed political asylum.

The three lorries involved were German registered, driven by German nationals, the spokesman added.

Tough penalties

Under tough laws recently introduced by the Home Office, lorry drivers can face a £2,000 fine for each illegal immigrant found in their vehicles.

The Immigration Service spokesman said the three German drivers were "being talked to" about the penalty.

A Kent Police spokeswoman said no arrests had been made.

"It was certainly an unusually high amount to be found in one instance," she said.

"They and the drivers will all have to be questioned about what happened. But there is no evidence yet to suggest they were deliberately smuggled into the country."

In June, 58 Chinese people smuggled illegally into Britain were found suffocated in the back of a truck in Dover, after a ferry crossing from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

After the tragedy, the authorities launched a crackdown on human traffickers, who can earn up to £20,000 per illegal immigrant.