TWO would-be illegal immigrants were caught trying to sneak into the UK on board a lorry heading for Sharpness.

The two men, both Indian nationals, were discovered in the beer laden lorry after a sniffer dog working the port at Calais in France detected their scent and sent out an alert.

UK Border Agency officers then opened the UK-registered vehicles and found the men hiding among the boxes of lager.

The stowaways were handed over to French border police and the vehicle was allowed to continue to Sharpness.

Both the British 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 immigrants before they can reach the UK.

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

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