Nine illegal immigrants were found among boxes filled with rubble in the back of a van that arrived from Holland, police said yesterday. Police said the vehicle was stopped at Harwich International Port in Essex as it came into the country on a ferry.

Two males, aged 17 and 67, from East Ham, east London, who were in the front of the van, were arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "Officers searched the van at about 7 a.m., shortly after it arrived at Harwich on a ferry from Holland. Nine people, all Indian, were found among boxes in the back of the van."

Jim Jarvie, a deputy regional director at the UK Border Agency, said: "There is no hiding place for those who try to cheat their way across the border as we will be ready to detain them wherever they are found."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.