19 illegal immigrants have been found hiding inside a truck bound for Dublin.

The 17 men and 2 women were discovered by UK Border Police in France in the early hours of last Friday morning as the lorry was about to board a ferry for Britain.

The stowaways – 12 from Iran and 7 from Vietnam – have been handed over to French police.

The Latvian driver is now custody.

Officials say the driver was handed to the French border police on suspicion of attempted facilitation and for further investigation into the incident.

It is reported that sniffer dogs, heartbeat detectors and carbon dioxide probes as well as physical searches were used to find people hiding in vehicles.