A Sudanese migrant was arrested in Kent after he evaded security and ran through the Channel Tunnel from Calais.

Abdul Rahman Haroun, 40, was almost at the end of the 31-mile long tunnel when he was caught by police less than a mile from Folkestone on Tuesday.

The desperate migrant scaled four security fences and dodged 400 surveillance cameras before running in darkness through the tunnel - used by Eurostar trains destined for Paris and Brussels - and was only spotted when he set off an alarm 15 miles into his 'highly dangerous journey'.

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A Sudanese migrant was arrested at the end of the Channel Tunnel in Kent after he evaded security in Calais (file image)

The desperate migrant scaled four security fences and dodged 400 surveillance cameras before running in darkness through the tunnel - used by Eurostar trains destined for Paris and Brussels (file image)

UK border police finally caught him as he was within sight of the tunnel mouth in Cheriton, near Folkestone, after services were delayed by four hours.

Eurotunnel has previously warned that anyone trying to walk along the train lines would almost certainly die, with risk from both high-speed trains and potentially fatal electrical currents.

A Eurotunnel spokesman added: 'This type of criminal intrusion into the tunnel is extremely rare, as well as being both illegal and extremely dangerous.

'Trains travel through there from England at up to 100mph, and he could easily have been struck. Usually migrants climb aboard Shuttle trains or lorries, not run all the way through the tunnel.

'We are now investigating how he managed to evade all the different levels of security.'

The spokesman said he had been found in one of the two railway tunnels rather than the service tunnel which runs through the middle.

It is believed the man, thought to be the first person to complete the perilous journey, was part of 600 migrants who tried to storm the Channel Tunnel terminal at Cocquelles in France on Monday evening.

He ran in darkness through the tunnel before he was stopped by UK border police a mile from the end in Kent

The crisis in Calais has escalated recently as around 3,000 migrants massed on the northern French coast, in a bid to storm the Eurotunnel site and cross (file image)

Kent Police confirmed it was investigating the incident, which happened near to the Channel Tunnel exit at Folkestone at 6.13pm on Tuesday.

Haroun, 40, of no fixed abode, appeared via video link at Medway Magistrates' Court tonight charged with one count of trespassing on a railway line.

He withheld a plea and was told to reappear at Canterbury Crown Court on August 24.

He could face a prison sentence after being charged with obstructing a train but is, however, still able to claim asylum.

THE 1861 RAIL LAW HE BROKE Sudanese migrant Abdul Rahman Haroun was charged with ‘obstructing engines or carriages on a railway’ under Section 36 of the Malicious Damage Act 1861. The precise wording of the offence is: ‘Whosoever, by any unlawful act, or by any wilful omission or neglect, shall obstruct or cause to be obstructed any engine or carriage using any railway, or shall aid or assist therein, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years.’ Advertisement

A Kent Police spokesman added: 'It is understood a Home Office Immigration Enforcement are also investigating this incident in a separate enquiry.'

The ease with which he avoided police and Eurotunnel officials will again raise serious questions about the migrant chaos at the French border.

MPs described security at the tunnel entrance in Calais as ‘very disturbing’.

A source close to Eurotunnel said the company was dealing with up to 1,000 ‘migrant incursions’ a day.

He added: ‘Most are apprehended before they enter the tunnel and they don’t get far if they make it inside. The French don’t prosecute, however.’

Haroun’s decision to undertake the potentially fatal journey on foot is further evidence of the extraordinary lengths migrants are willing to go.

A security source said Haroun’s venture through the tunnel acted as a ‘snapshot of how badly the French authorities have handled the situation’.

‘It is absolutely remarkable he was able to get through when you consider that the tunnel is 50km long,’ he said.

‘He would have had to dodge trains and duck and dive, so it is quite the achievement.’

It is believed the man was part of 600 migrants who tried to storm the Channel Tunnel terminal at Cocquelles in on Monday

Police officers search for migrants under a bridge in Calais, which is close to a fence by the Eurotunnel site

Haroun’s journey began at 7.30am on Tuesday when a security alert was triggered close to the entrance of one of the two train tunnels in Coquelles, near Calais.

The entrance was immediately shut as Eurotunnel sent security guards to join police officers in detecting the intruders. But despite the search, the migrant was able to make his way into the tunnel without further detection.

The tunnel closure left holidaymakers and haulage firms stranded for hours, but the only excuse offered by Eurotunnel was that the issue had been caused by an ‘anomaly’.

It was only after Haroun was charged in the UK yesterday that the company admitted its part in the migrant’s easy passage into the tunnel.

After evading the initial attempts to find him, Haroun was able to make his way through the 31-mile tunnel in complete darkness as trains hurtled past at more than 100mph.

He was forced to bear incredibly high temperatures, altered air pressure and roaring noise from trains as he walked along the narrow walkways at either side of the tracks. The walkways are designed for emergency evacuation when no trains are running, and he would only have been able to grab a handrail on the tunnel wall to stop himself being dragged under a passing train.

When his presence triggered an alarm at the tunnel’s halfway mark, the French sent a test-train equipped with strong lights to find him. It failed, however, and he was eventually arrested after being detected on a camera after crossing on to English territory.

A worker fixes damaged fences, which have been scaled by migrants as the crisis in Calais escalated in the last few weeks

The incident is another setback for the British Government, which claimed the migrant crisis had ‘peaked’.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond prompted controversy when he said measures to stop migrants breaking into the Eurotunnel terminal were ‘having an effect’.

Damian Collins, MP for Folkestone, said: ‘It is an extremely serious breach of security. The tunnel should be monitored by cameras to pick this up. It is very disturbing that he wasn’t.’

Ukip MP Douglas Carswell said: ‘The UK Government needs to take ownership and responsibility over what is going on.

'The Foreign Secretary said this week he had a grip when he very clearly hasn’t.’

EUROTUNNEL: FACTS AND FIGURES At 31.4 miles long, the Channel Tunnel is the 11th longest tunnel in use in the world - and the fifth longest used by rail passengers. It has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world. There are actually three tunnels as part of the system - two 7.6-metre (25 ft) diameter rail tunnels, built some 30 metres (98ft) apart, and a smaller service tunnel for use in emergencies. Haroun was found in one of the two train tunnels. Each of the tunnels has a cooling system installed - designed to counteract the build-up of heat produced by fast-moving trains. Chilled water is pumped through cooling pipes so that the tunnel air is maintained at a comfortable temperature. The average depth of the tunnel is 50 metres below the seabed, and the lowest point 75 metres below. Advertisement

The crisis in Calais has escalated recently as around 3,000 migrants massed on the northern French coast, in a bid to storm the Eurotunnel site and cross.

Many have taken increasingly dangerous risks to dodge security and get into the UK and nine people have been killed in their attempts.

Earlier this year, two migrants were plucked to safety from the English Channel after trying to climb aboard a moving ferry off Calais.

The desperate refugees had swam almost half a mile from shore in a bid to clamber onto the vast 180m-long vessel heading to Dover.

Migrants have also risked their lives by smuggling themselves into refrigerated lorries, clinging to the axles of HGVs and even aboard a cargo of coffins.

This week hundreds of people were caught trying to jump onto lorries boarding ferries bound for Britain.

It was a clear change of tactic for the migrants, who in recent weeks had focused their efforts to reach Britain on the Channel Tunnel terminal in Calais.

Meanwhile Eurotunnel authorities have been left struggling to source extra fencing needed to protect the site after French factory workers went on holiday.

New razor wire fencing was put up in recent days, but desperately-needed supplies are running thin with factories across the channel closed or running minimal staff since July 15, it has been reported.

The French have promised boosting police numbers on the border and the desperately needed extra fencing funded by the UK is to be installed around much of the Eurotunnel perimeter.

This includes higher boundaries and extra layers where necessary and a large metal barrier to protect Eurotunnel platforms.

A migrant helps another man through a small gap in the fence in the hope they will be able to cross over into Britain for asylum