Eight Would-Be Illegal Immingrants Found

16 October 2010, 08:19 | Updated: 16 October 2010, 08:25

UK Border Agency officers have found eight would-be illegal immigrants in a truck full of bird seed as part of an attempt to sneak through the French border into the UK.

Using high-tech equipment, officers working at Coquelles detected heart beats coming from within the truck of seed that was travelling from Bruges to Bury St Edmunds.

The haulier and driver may now have to pay a fine and the eight men, originally from Vietnam, Iran and the Sudan were handed over to the French authorities.

Carole Upshall, the UK Border Agency's Director for European Operations, said:

"Finds such as these highlight the desperate measures some people will take to try and get to Britain and the determination and expertise required by UK Border Agency officers to stay one step ahead of illegal immigration.”