11:10am Friday 12th March 2010
By Rachel Allen
Three illegal immigrants from Afghanistan were arrested by police after jumping out of a lorry in Semington – just yards away from Wiltshire Police’s divisional HQ.
A man and two boys were found on the A350 by the Semington Road roundabout after getting out of the back of a French lorry that was delivering to the Great Bear company in Portal Road, a distribution centre for Staverton firm Cereal Partners UK, on Tuesday.
Sergeant Melanie Rolph, of the Melksham Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “They were rumbled when the lorry driver opened the back of the lorry and a pair of gloves fell out. He quickly closed it, so they slashed a hole in the side of the curtain and jumped out and ran.”
Five police cars were involved in the half-hour search along the Semington bypass for the three fugitives, who were discovered just before noon. The trio were arrested under suspicion of being illegal immigrants, taken to Melksham police station and later handed to UK Border Control.
A worker at Great Bear Distribution, who didn’t want to be named, said: “The driver of a Norbert Dentressangle lorry from France noticed three people leave the back of his lorry.”
He said there was another incident in early 2009 at the firm involving illegal immigrants being found in a lorry.
The two boys have since been placed in the care of Wiltshire Council’s social services department, which could have a legal duty to look after them until they are 18.
A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We have a responsibility to assess the ages of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children found in Wiltshire.
“Two young people have been taken into the care of Wiltshire Council while the situation is being investigated. We are liaising with the Department of Immigration and working with the UK Border Agency.” The man has applied for asylum and is on immigration bail until his case is heard.
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