This is the moment nine people emerged from a lorry that had been stopped at a petrol station on suspicion of being used for people smuggling.
The driver of the HGV vehicle, which was carrying polystyrene crystal and had entered the UK from France, pulled over at the Shell petrol station in Bagshot Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, after being flagged down by a motorist who heard a noise inside the lorry.
Police climbed on top of the HGV and discovered the would-be immigrants, one of who was a 14-year-old boy, inside.
This is the moment nine people emerged from a lorry that had been stopped at a petrol station on suspicion of being used for people smuggling
Footage shows police officers climbing on top of the HGV and reaching inside before pulling out several men
The group was then arrested.
The lorry driver, a middle-aged Latvian man wearing a red t-shirt and brown shorts, was arrested on suspicion of assisting illegal entry by facilitation to the UK.
The 57-year-old has been released on bail pending further inquiries, the Home Office revealed today.
Speaking yesterday, Sergeant Andy Fordyce, of Thames Valley Police, said the men were ‘totally cooperative’ when they were caught as he and other officers waited for Border Force officials to arrive.
‘There’s a week-long operation on catching clandestines at the moment,’ he said.
A total of ten people were arrested, including the driver, after the incident at the Shell petrol station in Bagshot Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, yesterday
Sergeant Andy Fordyce, of Thames Valley Police, said the men were ‘totally cooperative’ when they were caught as he and other officers waited for Border Force officials to arrive
‘The operation is called Aident but this was just a coincidence. We got the call at 9.25am and officers got here shortly after that.
‘A noise was heard by someone when the lorry was just up the road and they flagged him down. There were nine clandestines, they were from Afghanistan, the youngest was 14 and they were all males. They’re in custody now.
‘The lorry came from France but I don’t know any more specific than that yet. I don’t know where it was travelling to.’
Pictures show police on the roof of the lorry as they searched it and the officers found nine males with the youngest just 14-years-old in Bracknell, Berkshire
The lorry driver, a middle-aged Latvian man wearing a red t-shirt and brown shorts, was arrested on suspicion of assisting illegal entry by facilitation to the UK
A police officer speaks to the driver of the lorry after the nine migrants were arrested
Police officers were climbing on the Broekema Bulk lorry with torches to try to find the people hidden inside.
Micheal Quaife, who worked at a KFC next door to the petrol station where they were found, said: ‘They pulled men out, it looked like about 10 of them.
‘I don’t know where it came from, it was parked in the petrol station then they were up on the top shining torches in and looking around.
‘I was just opening up the tills and saw police and then they pulled people out.’
An officer inspects the top of the container lorry after the migrants were found inside
The lorry driver was pulled over by a Shell petrol station in Bracknell, Berkshire
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said yesterday: ‘We were called at 9.25am this morning to a report of noise coming from inside a lorry at a petrol station on Bagshot Road, Bracknell.
‘Officers attended and found nine men inside suspected of illegally entering the country. They were seen by paramedics.
‘They were then arrested and are currently in custody prior to being dealt with by the immigration service.’
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