Stowaways freed within minutes

This is the moment five Iraqi stowaways were arrested after being found hiding in the back of a lorry that had just arrived in Britain.

But minutes later, police freed the men after immigration officials said there was no one available to process the case. Instead the Iraqis were told to make their own way from west London, where they were discovered, to the Croydon immigration centre 20 miles away.

The Home Office refuses to say whether any of the men actually turned up in Croydon. The incident emerged as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair warned of a terror threat in the run-up to the general election, and urged Londoners to be vigilant.

The lorry's owner, Anthony Ward Thomas, said: "I was appalled. Five people we know nothing about are let loose in London because the police and immigration couldn't be bothered on a Friday afternoon.

"We face losing our civil liberties because politicians are going on about the need to fight terrorism, yet the police are clueless. I only hope these guys are just illegal immigrants, not anything worse."

The lorry returned to the UK from Denmark on Friday, 18 February. Driver Tom Arkwright said that at Calais the vehicle went through a scanner to detect human heartbeats. He was told it was clear.

After landing in Dover at noon, he drove to Ward-Thomas Removals in Park Royal. Mr Ward Thomas said he heard suspicious noises coming from the lorry and called police. He said: "I could hear voices calling, 'Iraqi, Iraqi.'

"Police opened the trailer. We could see five smiling faces, wrapped up and huddled together for warmth. Police arrested and handcuffed them. They spoke no English, but an interpreter was not called." Police phoned immigration officials, said Mr Ward Thomas, but "it was about 4pm and they said they had no one to send.

"Instead the men's handcuffs were removed and they were given a phone number for Croydon immigration centre. They were told if they went there, they would be given ?200 in vouchers for housing and food. They then walked off."

Mr Arkwright said the lorry was padlocked. "Customs didn't ask us to open anything. I haven't a clue how the stowaways got in," he said. "I'm furious at the police. The men were not fingerprinted. Police said the laws regarding Iraqi immigrants had been 'up in the air since the invasion', so they let them go."

A Met spokeswoman said: "We called the immigration service. As we have to act on their advice we were forced to let them go. There's not much more we can do."

Cases where suspected illegal immigrants were told to make their own way to Croydon were revealed more than a year ago, but immigration sources said orders had been issued to end the practice.

Today a Home Office spokeswoman said: "We seek to send someone out whenever possible." She said the incident would be investigated. But the Home Office said it did not have resources to go to every lorry, in which case, details of suspects were recorded.

Shadow home affairs minister Humphrey Malins said: "This is another example of the Government's shambles on asylum seekers. Clearly these men should have been taken straight into custody."