Customs inspectors at the Channel tunnel between France and England were startled to find an Iraqi migrant hiding among a load of coffins two Polish truck drivers were delivering to England. The pair now face 14 months in prison.

First declaring that the coffins in their cargo were empty, the drivers then acted surprised when customs officials broke open one of the locked caskets and found a full-grown man lying inside, prosecutor Pascal Marconville told AFP.

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Despite claiming they had no idea a man was playing dead in one of their coffins, the court noted that it "wasn't accessible from the outside without destroying a lock," meaning the two must have been in on the rather ghoulish caper.

"This person could not have climbed in along the way without being helped by the drivers," Marconville noted.

Charges of “assisting the stay of foreigners in an irregular situation, by transport (...) in unworthy conditions” could net the two drivers up to 14 months in prison, with the “undignified” method of transport itself adding weight to the charges. However, the two might still prove at least somewhat lucky after all, as those serving sentences less than two years under French law often end up doing community service rather than serving actual time.

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