SEVEN suspected asylum-seekers, including four children, were being held at Southampton Central police station after they fled from the back of a French lorry on the M27.
The seven, who claim to be from Kurdistan, were spotted by dozens of drivers sitting on a central reservation at the junction of the M27 and the M3 near Rownhams services yesterday afternoon.
Police were called to the scene after a number of drivers called saying they had seen the suspected asylum-seekers sitting near two articulated lorries that were parked on the hard shoulder of the westbound carriageway - near the junction with the M3.
It is understood that one of the lorries suffered a puncture and had to pull on to the hard shoulder of the motorway.
When the lorry came to a halt, the suspected asylum-seekers tried to flee but ended up trapped in the central reservation.
The group is understood to comprise a man in his thirties, two adult women and four children aged between two-and-a-half and 12 years.
The group is currently being quizzed by immigration officers.
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