Eighteen people have been found hidden in a consignment of tyres in a truck in the port of Hoek van Holland, local broadcaster RTV Rijnmond reported on Saturday.

The driver, a 58-year-old man from Lithuania, was arrested on charges of human trafficking, the broadcaster said.

The 18 people – 15 men and three women – come from Afghanistan, Syria, India, Pakistan and Iraq, the border police said. All have been told they will have to leave the Netherlands immediately.

The lorry was heading for England by ferry when the asylum seekers were sniffed out by a pollice dog.