THREE would-be illegal immigrants have been caught trying to sneak into the UK on board a lorry-load of toys heading for Okehampton.

The men — two from Afghanistan and one from India — were discovered at 5.20am on September 24 at the port of Coquelles in France.

UK Border Agency officers searched the Dutch-registered lorry after a heart beat detector indicated the presence of people on board.

On entering the vehicle, they found the men hiding among the load of toys.

The stowaways were handed over to French Border Police and the vehicle was allowed to continue to the address in Okehampton.

Both the Dutch driver and the haulage company will be fined if they are unable to prove they took the correct steps to secure the vehicle.

Carole Upshall, the UK Border Agency's head of European Operations, said: 'This is why we base many of our officers in France and Belgium – to stop illegal immigration.

'As well as using heartbeat detectors, our staff also have sniffer dogs, scanners and carbon dioxide probes to detect people who are hiding on board lorries.'

UK Border Agency officers use hi-tech search equipment to combat immigration crime and detect banned and restricted goods that smugglers attempt to bring into the country.

Throughout 2009 more than 29,000 illegal attempts to cross the Channel illegally were prevented.