Dutch military police have discovered 17 migrants hiding in a truck on board a ferry that was about to depart from the town Hook of Holland to the British port of Harwich.

Police said that a sniffer dog discovered 16 Iraqi men, aged between 15 and 32, and a 25-year-old Syrian woman last night following a tip from the ferry operator.

The truck's Polish driver was arrested on suspicion of people smuggling.