Spanish lorry driver caught trafficking terrified migrants in fridge

Three Vietnamese men, three women of the same nationality and three Iraqi men were hidden in the fridge, and one of them called the police as they were frightened of dying from hypothermia.

Dutch police said the nine Asians were 'absolutely frozen' when they reached them.

Spokesman for the national force in The Netherlands, Eric Passchier, said the driver 'was aware of their presence' and it is believed the migrants had paid him 'huge sums of money' for the journey.

The driver, a Spanish national in a Spanish-registered lorry, is said to have travelled up from Belgium, but it is not known where he had originally collected the Iraqis and Vietnamese from.

It is believed their final destination may have been the UK, but the lorry had not been authorised to pass through customs at the British border, Passchier says.

A few months ago, a man from the Basque Country and a woman from Navarra were caught trying to drive home from Greece via Italy with Syrian and Iraqi migrants from refugee camps in their vehicle, intending to transport them to safety in Spain.

Both the accused parties insisted their actions had been through compassion after seeing the desperate situation of the refugees in the Greek camps, and that they 'would do it all again' despite having been caught.

The Basque regional government said it fully understood the aid workers' intentions and feelings, but did not agree with their method.

In the case of the Spanish haulage worker in The Netherlands, however, he is believed to have been transporting the migrants for a hefty profit, not to rescue them from intolerable living conditions.