Suspected illegal immigrants found in truck

British authorities launched a cross-country search after Essex Police received a “distressed” phone call form a man who said he was part of a group of migrants in the back of a truck in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Police in the southeastern county said the truck was reportedly on the A414 in North Weald, Essex, and had travelled from mainland Europe to Ashford in Kent, where it had arrived at around 7:00am.

Drivers of white lorries were advised to pull over to the side of the road and check to see if there were any migrants as police began their search.

A truck was stopped at the Toddington Services in Bedfordshire on the M1 on Wednesday afternoon and the immigrants were found in the trailer.

The news comes just days after two male migrants were discovered in a service station after motorists reported hearing banging coming from a lorry’s compartment.

A Surrey police spokesman announced that two men had been detained and face immigration offence charges.

The migrants are thought to be from Syria.