Sixteen Indians, arrested for trying to sneak into Britain in a lorry near Hull earlier this month, were released on Friday, a spokeswoman of the Hampshire police said.

"The immigration service asked us to release the 16 and accordingly they have been released on the condition that they will report at the Immigration Office at Croydon," she said.

The police had arrested the 16, including two unaccompanied children, near the port city on the charge of entering the UK illegally and they were taken to Basingstoke police station.

The illegal immigrants were detected through X-ray equipment in the back of a truck driven by an Italian. None of them had documentation to prove their identity, which under proposed new rules could lead to a two-year imprisonment.