Lorry driver arrested for trying to ‘smuggle four migrants OUT of the UK’
A LORRY driver has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle four migrants OUT of the UK.
Police stopped an HGV near the port of Dover at around 1.30pm today and found four adult males in the rear of the curtain-sided trailer.
A lorry driver is arrested after allegedly trying to smuggle four migrants out of the UK[/caption]According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), the stowaways were two Bangladeshis, one Indian and one Egyptian.
They were all suspected of having been in the UK illegally and have been handed to the immigration authorities to be dealt with.
The arrest came as part of an ongoing investigation into organised immigration crime.
The lorry had been booked to sail on a ferry to Calais later today.
Meanwhile, the driver, 37, a Romanian national, is now being questioned on suspicion of attempting to facilitate illegal immigration.
NCA branch commander Andy Noyes said: “Criminal groups involved in people smuggling do not care about the safety or wellbeing of those they transport.
“They just see them as a commodity to be profited from.
“We are determined to do all we can to disrupt their activities.
“In this case four individuals have been prevented from making what was undoubtedly a dangerous journey.
“Our investigation continues.”
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This comes as thousands of asylum seekers arrive in the UK every year after making the dangerous journey across the English Channel from France.
By the end of August, about 5,000 people had arrived in dinghies, compared to 1,890 in the entire of 2019 alone.
September has been a record month of migrant arrivals, with at least 1,880 crossing the Channel in tiny, often unseaworthy boats this month.
On September 2, a daily high of 416 migrants landed in Britain in 28 boats.
Thousands of migrants cross the English Channel every year[/caption]