BABIES were among fourteen illegal immigrants squeezed into a lorry trailer which arrived at Felixstowe port, a court heard today.Ipswich Crown Court heard that six men, four women and four babies were crammed into a two foot space between a stack of heavy pallets and the roof of the lorry.

BABIES were among fourteen illegal immigrants squeezed into a lorry trailer which arrived at Felixstowe port, a court heard today.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that six men, four women and four babies were crammed into a two foot space between a stack of heavy pallets and the roof of the lorry.

Martin Levett, prosecuting, said any shift in the pallets, due to the ferry crossing or driving round corners could have caused serious injury to the smuggled passengers. He said: "The persons were crouched or lying on top of the pallets, squeezed in the space which was probably no more than two foot from the top of the pallets."

The court heard that the Turkish immigrants were in a trailer towed by Turkish lorry driver, Mustafa Kahraman, 41. Kahraman has denied facilitating the arrival of asylum seekers into the UK. He told customs officers he had no idea they were in his lorry.

Mr Levett said the pallets containing heavy double glazing units, were destined for the Bowater Zenith factory in Norfolk. He added that the lorry had travelled from Germany to a commercial port and then on a commercial ferry to Felixstowe. "It's most unlikely the illegal immigrants got on the trailer at sea or at the commercial port compound," he said.

The trial continues.