Eighteen illegal immigrants found at former top secret nuclear missile base where Star Wars was filmed
Border Force officers were called to the scene and the 18 people, whose nationalities have not been released, were taken to an immigration control centre
A GROUP of 18 people were found in the back of a lorry in the middle of a former top-secret nuclear missile base after banging was heard.
Border Force rushed to the site, where recent Star Wars scenes were filmed, in Berkshire and took the group of suspected illegal immigrants to an immigration control centre.
The number of men, women or children has not been disclosed, nor has the nationality of the people.
Some of the 18 people were found to be unwell and needed urgent medical treatment after being in the back of a lorry for so long.
The driver of the vehicle claimed he did not know they were there and is being questioned by police.
Banging was heard as the truck passed through Greenham Business Park, yards from 40ft reinforced concrete bunkers which housed American cruise missiles during the Cold War in the 1980s.
Officers were called to Ministry Road on the business park, two miles from Newbury, after people heard "banging and shouting" coming from the back of the lorry.
One eye witness said: "The lorry was trying to manoeuvre around the business park, but cars blocked his way through.
"He started to reverse back, which is quite a difficult manoeuvre for a 7.5-tonne lorry, and when he did that we could hear banging coming from the back.
"I ran up to the driver, but he didn't speak a word of English so I called the police.
"Eighteen of them were brought out the back and I understand quite a few of them were unwell - ambulances were there and all sorts. I've never seen anything like it."
Thames Valley Police spokesman Gareth Ford-Lloyd said "Eighteen people were detained and the matter is now being dealt with by the Home Office."
Greenham Common airbase was world-famous in the 1980s when the US got permission from Britain to base 96 cruise missiles aimed at Russia.
A thriving business park was set up in one corner of the old airfield but the bunkers and airport control tower remain.
Recently the bunkers were used as a backdrop for one of the Star Wars films.
Footage taken in November showed four people with rucksacks climbing out of a Romanian lorry in Ashford, Kent, after it was stopped by a police van.
Ahead of Christmas Prince Charles warned that Britain’s rising intolerance against refugees is similar to that seen in World War II.
The Prince of Wales told BBC Radio he was concerned about the amount of people being “aggressive” towards those from minority faiths, describing it as “deeply disturbing”.
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