STAFF at a Suffolk factory were left stunned after they found six illegal immigrants in the back of a delivery truck.The lorry was delivering parts to the Delphi engine factory in Sudbury on Tuesday lunchtime when the driver heard voices in the back of his truck.
Laurence Cawley
STAFF at a Suffolk factory were left stunned after they found six illegal immigrants in the back of a delivery truck.
The lorry was delivering parts to the Delphi engine factory in Sudbury on Tuesday lunchtime when the driver heard voices in the back of his truck.
Security officers found six Eritreans in back of the lorry - the second time in the past four months that illegal immigrants have been discovered there.
The lorry had come into the UK from the continent and is believed the illegal immigrants, all from the north African state of Eritrea, boarded the vehicle before coming into the country.
According to the Home Office, all six were arrested and will be dealt with under Border and Immigration Agency guidelines.
A Home Office spokeswoman added two of the group discovered were children and are currently being taken care of by social services.
She added such incidents were “inevitable” despite the nation's border controls.
Steve Coppock, human resources manager at Delphi, praised the actions of security staff at the factory.
He said: “A lot of our parts come in from the continent. This truck was making a delivery of parts. It is the second time we have had an incident of this kind and on both occasions the security staff have found the people before the lorry had entered the premises.”
He said the firm took security very seriously because “of the technology we have here” adding: “The whole site is fenced off.”
The illegal immigrants had been in the truck for about 20 hours before being discovered, Mr Coppock said.
A police spokeswoman told how the six Eritreans were found after the driver heard voices in the back of the lorry.
A number of police cars were sent to the factory in Newton Road and all six people were taken to Sudbury police station for questioning.
In a separate incident, seven men were arrested in Station Road, Long Melford, on Wednesday. Six were taken to Oakington and a seventh was detained by immigration officers. The arrests followed a tip-off by a member of the public, a spokeswoman for Suffolk police said:
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