Reporter goes undercover with migrant smuggling gang

Illegal immigrants fleeing the authorities in Britain are paying criminal gangs to be smuggled out of the UK.

The BBC's Panorama programme sent reporter Paul Kenyon undercover, to pose as a migrant who needs to leave Britain.

Using secret filming, he met up with an underground network charging migrants as much as £1,500 to hide them in lorries destined for mainland Europe.

Some who use the service have lived illegally in the UK for years, but want to move on in the hope of finding richer pickings elsewhere in Europe. Others are thought to be fleeing the justice system.

Panorama: Immigration Undercover, BBC One, Monday 21 January at 20:30 GMT and then available in the UK via the BBC iPlayer.