A group of migrants look delighted after being freed from a sealed lorry which they stowed away on to cross the English Channel.

Eight suspected illegal immigrants were hauled off the lorry by police in Dover, Kent.

Officers were seen escorting them into the back of a police van on Palmerston Road.

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A group of migrants look delighted after being freed from a sealed lorry which they stowed away on to cross the English Channel

Eight suspected illegal immigrants were hauled off the lorry by police in Dover, Kent

Officers were seen escorting them into the back of a police van on Palmerston Road

The migrants posed for cameras as they were detained - smiling, waving and giving the thumbs up.

They were all men, believed to be aged between 20 and 40, who spoke little to no English.

Five were from Afghanistan, two from Iraq and one was Iranian.

Police officers then spoke to the driver of the lorry, who insisted that his trailer was empty when he collected it in France.

The driver also stated that a code was needed to open the doors.

The suspected illegal immigrants were all taken to Dover Port for checks.

The migrants posed for cameras as they were detained - smiling, waving and giving the thumbs up

The suspected illegal immigrants were all taken to Dover Port for checks

A spokeswoman for Kent Police told MailOnline: 'We were called at 2.43pm on Thursday following the discovery of a number of people in a lorry in Palmerston Road, Whitfield'

Police officers then spoke to the driver of the lorry (wearing a blue cap), who insisted that his trailer was empty when he collected it in France

They were all men, believed to be aged between 20 and 40, who spoke little to no English

A spokeswoman for Kent Police told MailOnline: 'We were called at 2.43pm on Thursday following the discovery of a number of people in a lorry in Palmerston Road, Whitfield.

'Officers attended and the eight people discovered are being handed over to the Home Office immigration enforcement facility in Dover.'

MailOnline has contacted the Home Office for comment.

The group were all aged from about 20 to 40 and were discovered just hours after Theresa May met French President Emmanuel Macron and agreed to help deal with the problem of the hundreds of migrants camping rough around Calais as they try to sneak into Britain.

A passer-by who saw them being put into the police van on Thursday afternoon said: ‘The driver of the lorry had just stopped to pick up another driver a mile from the port of Dover, and noticed someone had altered the combination code for the back door.

‘He immediately called the police, who turned up and took away the blokes inside, who all gave themselves up.

‘They spoke little or no English.’

Net migration to the UK in the 12 months to last June was 230,000. Britain has followed the EU rule that asylum seekers should claim refuge in the first safe country they come to.

By definition, those already in France should seek permanent residence there, or perhaps at a previous stop such as Italy.

But Mrs May accepted this week that Britain should not only put £45million into increasing security at Channel ports, but should also speed up migration applications from those in Calais.

In the so-called Sandhurst Treaty, named after the leaders met at the military college in Berkshire on Thursday, adults should be processed within four weeks instead of up to six months, as it can take at the moment, and child applicants must be dealt with within 25 days.