A heavily pregnant woman and a man found in the back of a van have been arrested on suspicion of entering the country illegally.

Police arrested a 25-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man who were travelling in the back of a Mercedes box van which was delivering goods from abroad to Aeroflex Test Solutions in Six Hills Way, Stevenage, at around 2.10pm on Friday.

The pair, of no fixed address, were held at Stevenage Police Station before being handed over to the Home Office’s UK Border Agency, a police spokesman said.

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said the man was taken to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre, where he has been placed on immigration bail while his case is investigated. They have no record of the woman being placed in their care.