POLICE and UK Border Agency officers staged a major operation in Alresford after a group of illegal immigrants were seen “jumping from the back of a lorry”.

According to a Country Watch alert, nine men were seen getting off the truck in Bighton, near Alresford, at around 12.30pm on April 7.

The Home Office later confirmed that seven men, thought to be from Afghanistan, including one claiming to be a minor, had been arrested on suspicion of entering the UK illegally.

As of last Wednesday they were still being held in custody while their cases were dealt with by immigration officers.

“If they have no right to remain in the UK, then action will be taken to remove them,” said a Home Office spokesman who, when asked if any of the group managed to avoid arrest, said he had “no further information”.

While Hampshire Police was able to confirm that officers did attend an incident in Alresford, the case was now in the hands of the UK Border Agency.

The Herald contacted watercress businesses whose trucks regularly access their premises in the Bighton Lane area of Alresford for comment.

At the time neither The Watercress Company nor Vitacress Salads was able to shed any light on the situation, but Vitacress later issued a statement categorically denying that any illegal immigrants had arrived on its farm.