When the dust settled, 14 tanker stowaways knew the game was up
THESE ghostly, powder-covered figures hoped they would be all-white on the night when they clambered from inside a tanker.
But that was when 14 illegal immigrants covered head to foot in maize starch knew life had a darker side.
The migrants, who smuggled themselves into Britain from France, were arrested by police who also got a dusting down as they searched them.
Frenchman Ludovic Buns had transported the 25 tons of maize starch from Calais to Devizes in Wiltshire.
It was then that he heard coughing and strange noises from his tanker at the DS Smith packaging company on Tuesday night. M. Buns peered inside to find the stowaways – seven men and seven teenagers from Iraq and Afghanistan – coated in his cargo. There were even white footprints on the ground as the dejected immigrants were led away.
The police officers all donned protective gloves as they searched the men and ended up with their arms and parts of their black uniforms covered in the white powder as well.
A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said the seven adult stowaways – five Afghans and two Iraqis – were being held at police stations in Wiltshire.
The seven youths – six Iraqis and one Afghan – are aged between 14 and 17. They have been placed in the care of Wiltshire council social services before their cases are assessed.