18 September 2009
UK Border Agency officers working in Calais have thwarted an attempt by five illegals to sneak into the United Kingdom, hidden in a trailer full of televisions bound for Northampton.
The Polish registered vehicle was stopped on Sunday (11 September) at 0400. A carbon dioxide detector recorded elevated readings of CO2 indicating the presence of stowaways. Officers found the cord which secured the trailer doors had been cut and then pinned back into place.
Officers opened the doors and found five Indian nationals hiding on top of the televisions.
The driver of the vehicle and the company could now face a civil penalty of up to £2,000 for every stowaway if they are found not to have taken adequate steps to secure their load.
Gail Adams, Regional Director for the UK Border Agency in the Midlands and the East, said:
‘Our top priority is to stop would-be illegal immigrants before they reach the UK. That’s why we’ve got hundreds of British immigration officers based overseas carrying out checks to stop illegal immigrants before they get to these shores.
‘Since January we have stopped more than 14,000 individual attempts to cross the channel illegally and have searched more than 400,000 freight vehicles – checking that they are not harbouring illegal human cargo.’
The five men were fingerprinted, photographed, refused entry to the United Kingdom and handed over to the French authorities.
As well as carbon dioxide probes, the UK Border Agency also uses body detection dogs and heart beat detectors to find well hidden stowaways.