Shropshire-bound migrants stopped

Six illegal immigrants have been caught trying to sneak into the UK in the back of a lorry bound for Shropshire.

The six, all from Vietnam, were caught when the lorry full of car parts was stopped at border controls in Calais, the UK Border Agency said today.

A detection dog sniffed out the lorry's human cargo.

When immigration officers opened the lorry, they found the six males – five adults and a youth – hiding among the car parts.

The lorry was en route from Germany to a firm in Stafford Park, Telford, when it was stopped on Wednesday, at about 6.20pm.

The UK Border Agency said the lorry was allowed to continue its journey to the UK once the stowaways had been removed and handed over to the French authorities.

Tom Dowdall, agency director, who heads operations in northern France, said: "We have hundreds of UK Border Agency officers, based at ports in France and Belgium, carrying out checks to stop illegal immigrants before they get to the UK.

"We use sniffer dogs, carbon dioxide and heartbeat detectors to find stowaways trying to get into the UK illegally.

"Our British controls in northern France continue to prevent illegal migrants from entering the UK, stopping more than 28,000 attempts in 2008."

An agency spokesman declined to name the company involved but warned a financial penalty of up to £2,000 per stowaway may be applied. Officers are investigating the case.