Dover's Border Force officers discovered something extra when they stopped a lorry leaving the county with 17 illegal people on board.

They also found two undercover journalists from a national newspaper.

The truck – driven by a Romanian driver - was heading for Calais with its “passengers” – many of them failed asylum seekers – heading for a new life in France.

But what driver Sorin Vartolomei didn’t know was the two journalists were in contact with the Home Office and the guards were waiting for the lorry.

The 27 year old – who admitted a charge of people smuggling – has now been jailed for three years.

Prosecutor Jim Harvey told Canterbury Crown Court that the reporters had told the Home Office that their recruitment in Purfleet in April “was like a military operation”.

“The defendant was stopped driving his lorry at Dover Eastern Docks as he was attempting to leave for France. There were 19 individuals in the lorry.”

Judge Adele Williams interjected: “The indictment says 17?”

Mr Harvey replied: “There were 17 either Pakistani or Bangladeshi foreign nationals in the trailer.

“But two additional individuals were undercover reporters from the Sun newspaper. The reporters had relayed what was happening to their newspaper, which in turn notified the Home Office.

"This offence is a very serious one it means the UK authorities have no checks on those entering or leaving its borders. In this world in which we live that’s a very serious matter..." - Judge Adele Williams

“It was following that notification that the vehicle was identified and stopped as it was leaving the country.

“The reporters gave an account to officers of how they came to be in the lorry and compared it to a military-style operation," he added.

The prosecutor said the driver gave “a full and frank account” of how four months prior to the trip he had spoken to a fellow Romanian driver about making extra money.

The driver claimed he had been offered £2,000 for the journey – money he said was earmarked for an important operation for his mother in Austria.

Andrew Gurney, defending, said it was the first time Vartolomei had carried out this trip and only did it to get cash for the operation.

Judge Williams told him: “This offence is a very serious one it means the UK authorities have no checks on those entering or leaving its borders.

“In this world in which we live that’s a very serious matter. You were to be paid a significant amount of money to take part in a sophisticated and well organised criminal venture.”

Speaking after the sentencing, immigration minister James Brokenshire said: "This sentence serves as a warning to anyone thinking of abusing our immigration rules.

"Our dedicated, specialist investigative teams will continue to track down and bring to justice those criminals who seek to abuse the UK’s immigration rules.

"The further controls that will be included in the new Immigration Bill will make life even harder for those who think they can cheat our laws and, in the process, deliver a fairer Britain.

"Foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crime in Britain should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them.

"This individual will rightly remain behind bars and we will be seeking deportation at the end of his sentence."

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