Want the top news headlines sent to your inbox daily? Sign up to our FREE newsletter below Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Twenty migrants have been discovered in the back of a lorry at the Port of Tyne attempting to enter the UK illegally.

Border Force officers were called to the North Shields port after 20 migrants from Albania and Syria were found in the back of a lorry travelling to Britain from Amsterdam.

It is understood 15 of the migrants were returned to the Netherlands by ferry on Tuesday night.

Two adults are now in immigration detention centres and two minors have been passed to social services for age assessments.

The twentieth member of the group, a 35-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of facilitation of illegal immigration, while a 32-year-old Polish man was also arrested on suspicion of facilitation of illegal immigration.

Investigations are now under way and both men remain in custody.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Border Force officers work closely with the police and other agencies to tackle the criminal gangs that attempt to smuggle migrants into Britain.

“We continue to strengthen border security to stop illegal migrants entering the UK in the first place and use the latest technology including sniffer dogs, heartbeat detectors and carbon dioxide probes to find people hiding in vehicles and freight.

“The Immigration Act of 2014 made it harder for people to live in the UK illegally.

“The new Immigration Bill will build on this and we will take tougher action on those who shouldn’t be here, by rooting out illegal immigrants and boosting deportations.”

Last week, 71 migrants were found dead in an abandoned lorry in Austria which is believed to have travelled from Bulgaria.

The crossing at Calais has been plagued with problems all summer amid a growing migrant crisis.

Many migrants are stationed at a camp near the port and on several occasions have broken into the tunnel and climbed aboard lorries or trains in an attempt to get to the UK.

At its peak the number of attempts to board lorries or trains was around 2,000 a night but that has since fallen.

And as the crisis in Calais continues, refugees from Syria have continued to enter Europe - with thousands trying to claim asylum in Hungary.

Around 160,000 migrants have been detained already this year in Hungary, more than triple the figure recorded in all of 2014.

Many apply for asylum but quickly leave the financially strapped European Union nation for richer EU countries like Germany and Austria before their requests are decided.

This week Labour leadership candidate Yvette Cooper called for Britain to open its doors to more refugees from Syria, arguing it should be possible to take some 10,000 people seeking asylum.

Germany has said it expects to accept 800,000 asylum seekers this year whereas Britain received 25,771 asylum applications in the year ending June 2015, according to the Home Office.

Hungary is building a 4m high fence on its southern border with Serbia to try to stem the flow of migrants coming across the Balkans.

On Wednesday morning, thousands of migrants were stranded at Budapest’s main international railway station as authorities stick to European Union rules and prevent them from leaving for Germany and other countries west of Hungary.

Around 3,000 migrants are at Keleti station in the Hungarian capital, many camping outside the main entrance guarded by police, who said citizen patrols were assisting them in keeping order.