One hundred lorries were searched in Buckinghamshire at the start of March as Thames Valley Police, along with other organisations, are tackling people smuggling in the region.
The operation, which took place at Beaconsfield and Newport Pagnell service stations, were carried out with Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, and Hampshire Constabulary, as well as TVP.
They also happened at service stations in Chieveley, Waterstock and Reading.
This is in order to raise awareness for HGV drivers on how lorries are being used for people smuggling, as the vehicles may be targeted by organised criminals who are looking to smuggle people into the UK.
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The operations and searches occurred from Monday, March 1 to Friday, March 5, with 40 lorries being checked out at Beaconsfield Services on Thursday, March 4.
In total, five companies had clandestine fines outstanding.
Three days earlier on Monday, March 1, in Newport Pagnell, 60 lorries were searched with six companies having clandestine fines outstanding.
No people were found in any of the lorries that were searched in the region, but officials and officers discovered that 22 lorries had outstanding clandestine fines for previously being found with people on the lorry following a border crossing.
As a result, £96,190 was paid in fines to Border Force, with two lorries being seized.
A further £100,000 in clandestine fines were also recovered following an operation that ran through February.
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Detective Inspector Steve Jones, of the Thames Valley Police Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “People being smuggled into the UK is illegal and those who are facilitating the smuggling or trafficking of people into the UK are from Organised Crime Groups and make significant profits from it.
“People may ask why Thames Valley Police is involved and why we are engaging with hauliers in these areas.
“Sometimes like other areas across the country, the service stations in our area can be a first stop off, after a channel crossing, so this might be a place where those who have been smuggled try to exit a lorry or vehicle.
“So we feel this an appropriate place to remind hauliers and the public of the dangers around people smuggling.
“It is important to remind people that those who are smuggled are then often forced into modern slavery, prostitution and other crime, having been promised a better life in the UK and forced to pay vast amounts of cash to get here.
“The risk of serious injury or death of being smuggled in the back of a lorry or a small boat is significant.
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“There are also serious penalties for those caught helping to smuggle people into the UK in the back of lorries. They could be arrested and investigated and their employer could face substantial fines for not having appropriate security in place for their fleet.
“We would advise anyone who thinks that there may be people trapped in a lorry or vehicle to report it to police immediately to 999 as a life could be put at risk.”
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