Illegal immigrants found hiding on beer lorry

"Sniffer" dog Toby found the stowaways amongst the beer on the lorry

Six would-be illegal immigrants have been found among crates of Belgian beer on a lorry heading for Monmouthshire.

The men were found by a "sniffer" dog called Toby working with a team of UK Border Agency officers.

The agency said the Polish driver of the British-registered lorry could face a penalty of up to £2,000 for each man if he did not take adequate steps to secure the load.

The discovery was made at Calais on 15 October.

Four-and-a-half year old English Springer Spaniel Toby found the six originally from India, amongst dozens of crates of beer which were on their way to Caldicot.

UK Border Agency Regional Director Carole Upshall said: "This incident shows why we base UK Border Agency dogs and staff in France - to stop illegal immigrants before they can reach the UK.

"As well as using sniffer dogs like Toby, we use heartbeat detectors and carbon dioxide probes to find people hiding in vehicles."