A lorry driver has been released without charge after police “rescued” eight people from the back of the vehicle which was found on the A14 at Spaldwick.

One of the men found in the lorry was taken to hospital, although his injuries were not thought to be serious, and no other injuries were reported on the other occupants.

The alarm was raised by someone travelling in the back of the lorry.

The incident came 16 days after the bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a refrigerated trailer in Grays, Essex.

Cambridgeshire police stopped the heavy goods vehicle at Spaldwick at 7.15pm on November 7 and recovered the group of people from the rear of the vehicle.

A police spokesman said that a man had been arrested on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration and the investigation into the incident, together with the welfare of the people involved, had been handed over to the immigration services.

A spokesman for the Home Office said immigration enforcement officers were contacted by Cambridgeshire police at 1.12 am on November 8 after police attended an incident on the A14 at Spaldwick.

Eight people, who said they were Iraqi and Iranian nationals, were referred to the Home Office and were interviewed by immigration officers. Their cases will now be dealt with under immigration rules.

The Home Office spokesman said the driver of the lorry had since been released without charge.

The Vietnamese people found dead in the trailer at Grays are believed to have been migrants being smuggled into the UK or the victims of human trafficking.