Agency report
 
London, May 11: Three illegal immigrants from India who managed to sneak their way past border controls in a German delivery lorry were arrested when they tried to escape in Southampton, police said on Thursday.

The men made their attempted escape when the lorry pulled into the Ordnance Survey headquarters in Romsey Road, where it had been delivering paper.

Onlookers watched as the lorry came to a stop outside the building and the three men scrambled out of the rear loading door. They then ran off in the direction of Winchester Road.

Police were alerted and officers caught up with the men in Bassett Crescent, where they were arrested.

A police spokesman said that, when challenged, the men, aged 24, 22 and 21, could not prove their identities or speak English. They are being held in cells at Southampton Central Police Station.

"We are able to confirm that three Indian nationals are being interviewed by immigration staff today," Stephen Carter, of the Home Office, said.

"It's not easy to say what will happen next. We use heat-seeking and heartbeat-tracking technology to prevent this sort of thing happening, but every now and then people will penetrate our borders unlawfully," he said.