9:38am Friday 1st December 2006
By Kerry McQueeney
Nine suspected illegal immigrants were arrested by police after they were found hiding in the back of a lorry in Purley Way.
The driver of the Spanish HGV, which was travelling from Barcelona, called police at around 9.45am on Friday, November 24.
He told officers he heard banging noises coming from the back of his vehicle while he stopped for a tea break in Croydon.
When officers searched the vehicle, parked in a layby opposite Dragons Health Club in Imperial Way, they found nine men - thought to be Sudanese nationals aged in their 20s.
It is believed the passengers boarded the lorry at the Calais port in France. All nine have been arrested on suspicion of illegal entry to the UK and the matter is now being dealt with by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate.
Eyewitness Trevor Thipps said: "The lorry looked like it was refrigerated, I think it had been carrying meat. All of them were sitting around the RAF memorial looking very bemused.
"There were four police vans and three police cars and officers were surrounding them, standing guard."
Trevor's brother Geoff Thipps added: "A policeman told me the driver heard banging coming from the back of the lorry. He called the police himself. They seem to think they could have jumped in at Calais.
"I've seen lorries be pulled over here but I haven't seen anything like this before."
A spokesman for Croydon police said: "Police received a call from a member of public at around 9.45am to reports of suspicious behaviour inside the cargo section of a Spanish articulated lorry in Purley Way, opposite Dragons Health Club.
"Police arrived and following a search of the lorry arrested nine individuals on suspicion of illegal entry to the UK and are now being dealt with by Immigration."
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