BORDER officials have caught five Iraqis as they tried to sneak into the UK - in a lorry packed with ham.

BORDER officials have caught five Iraqis as they tried to sneak into the UK - in a lorry packed with ham.

The Suffolk-bound lorry was stopped by UK Border Agency officers based in Calais at 2am last Wednesday, where a search uncovered the five Iraqis before the vehicle could board a ferry destined for the UK.

The Polish-registered lorry, containing a load of ham, was destined for Haverhill.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “We have hundreds of British immigrations officers based at ports in France and Belgium, working to stop illegal immigrants before they get to the UK.

“UKBA uses heart beat detectors, carbon dioxide machines, sniffer dogs and visual searches to find well-hidden illegal immigrants.

“Last year over one million lorries were searched and we prevented 18,000 attempts to cross the English Channel without permission.”

The five Iraqis that were detained have been handed over to the French authorities.