Four boys discovered in freight container

The Garda National Immigration Bureau is investigating the discovery of four juveniles in the back of a freight container in Dublin yesterday.

The boys, aged between 11 and 17 and thought to be from Kosovo, were discovered when the trailer was opened at about 8.40 a.m. yesterday in the North Ring Business Park in Santry.

A member of staff at the business park, who did not want to be named, said the driver "seemed totally unaware" of the boys' presence in the container until it was opened. They didn't speak English, he said.

Insp Martin Donnellan, of the immigration bureau, said the boys "seem to be brothers, or some of them are brothers" and that they were in good health.

They would be interviewed in the presence of interpreters "to try and establish where they are from, whether they have family here and also to try and get the maximum amount of detail about who put them on the container". They are currently in the care of the Northern Area Health Board.

The container, which was not airtight, is owned by a Wexford freight company, Nolan Transport. It was loaded with electrical equipment in Germany at the weekend before travelling through Belgium to Calais, where it boarded the Eurostar train to Folkstone in Kent on Saturday night.

It went on to Liverpool where it boarded the merchant vessel, Dawn Merchant, on Sunday night, arriving in Dublin Port at 6 a.m. yesterday. The boys may have entered the container in Belgium or at Calais, said Insp Donnellan.