DETECTIVES are appealing for witnesses to come forward after illegal immigrants were allegedly seen running along the A120.

The incident happened around 7am today (Friday, September 18) at Galleys Corner in Braintree.

Police were called by a member of public who saw what he believed to be illegal immigrants coming out of a lorry and running off along the A120 on the Colchester-bound carriageway.

The lorry was later found on the M11 at junction 11.

The driver, a 47-year-old man from Colchester, was arrested on suspicion of arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation. He remains in custody for questioning.

A police spokesman said: "We’d like to speak to any other drivers who were in the Galleys Corner area at around 7am this morning and saw what happened or have any dash cam footage.

"Contact Braintree CID on 101 quoting reference 42/149796/20 or report online at https://www.essex.police.uk."