Border Force officers are continuing to be vigilant for any more human trafficking at Humber ports in the wake of the latest shipment of illegal immigrants.
A senior officer said he was concerned at the scale of the latest human cargo and the targeting of ports on England’s east coast by organised gangs abroad exploiting illegal immigration.
Mark Robinson is an assistant director of the Border Force and commander responsible for the Humber region. He said his staff regularly prepare for illegal immigrants coming in through ports such as Killingholme, Immingham and Grimsby.
They have been on alert since the group of 68 illegal immigrants arrived at Harwich, Essex, more than a week ago.
In that incident, 15 children were found among the group of Afghans, Chinese and Vietnamese smuggled aboard four lorries driven by Polish drivers.
They were found crammed in among a cargo of washing machines and other domestic appliances. The drivers were arrested and have since been bailed.
Mr Robinson said he did not know if there was a cargo onboard the Euro-liner lorry which was aboard the ferry which landed at Killingholme, as well as the illegal immigrants.
He said: “This is a significant number of people. We plan for this sort of event. All the agencies have worked well together.”
Mr Robinson added: “With all the activity taking place in places like Calais, the ports in Belgium and Denmark and Holland are having more immigrants and that affects all the ports on our east coast.” He said he suspected the smuggling of immigrants was by an organised gang.
The operation involving a number of Border Force staff caused little disruption to the flow of lorries in and out of the port.
