Illegal immigrants vanish after being given rail tickets and told to 'make their way to detention centre'

Blundering police officers put a group of illegal immigrants on a train, gave each of them free tickets and told them to make their way to a detention centre 80 miles away under their own steam.

Unsurprisingly, none of the nine reported to the centre and all nine disappeared on their journey from Cambridge to Croydon.

But police have defended their actions, claiming they were only acting on the advice of immigration officials and the decision was out of their hands.

James Paice MP for South-East Cambridgeshire where the men of Afghani origin were found under a lorry last week, has hit out at officials who co-ordinated the men's travel.

"This is a ludicrous policy and bound to lead to increased numbers of illegal immigrants. As the police have made clear, the buck clearly stops with the Home Office," he said.

The nine men, who were found at Fordham, near Newmarket, were given the train tickets at Cambridge and the name of the immigration facility in Croydon and told to report there without supervision.

DI Alan Savile, of Cambs Police, said: "In matters of this nature, the police are led by the UK Immigration Service which in turns follows the Home Office instruction.

"In this instance, the Immigration Service in St Ives was consulted and the decision taken to direct individuals to the immigration facility at Croydon, which is accepted practice."

Mr Paice, who has now raised the matter with Immigration Minister Liam Byrne, said: "If this is the action that the Immigration Service actually encourages, it is hardly surprising that we have vast numbers of illegal immigrants in this country.

"Surely when they are apprehended, as in this case, they ought not then be released into the community without any trace of where they may go.

"It is naive in the extreme to expect nine illegal immigrants found in Fordham to voluntarily report to a facility in Croydon."

The men are thought to have boarded a lorry owned by well-known haulage company Turners in Europe.

When the men were discovered at the firm's base at Fordham, staff at Turners informed police.

Staff said police arrived with a minibus, took the men straight to the train station in Cambridge, then gave them tickets and allowed them on their way.