UK authorities find some 68 migrants in trucks at port northeast of London

LONDON – British police were questioning four Polish truck drivers Friday after authorities found 68 migrants crammed in the back of trucks at a port northeast of London.

The 53 adults and 15 children were found during a “proactive” search Thursday at Harwich International Port in Essex, Britain’s Home Office said.

The migrants were from Afghanistan, China, Vietnam and Russia. Some were hospitalized as a precaution, but all have now been released. The Polish drivers were arrested on suspicion of facilitating a breach of U.K. immigration laws.

The stowaways were discovered on vehicles that had arrived on the Stena Hollandica ferry from Hook of Holland, Netherlands.

Britain’s border force uses sniffer dogs, heartbeat detectors and carbon dioxide probes to find stowaways.

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This story has been corrected to show that the migrants were crammed into more than one truck, rather than a single container.

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