Police surrounded the vehicle after the driver heard noises coming from the back and stopped at the Triangle Leisure Centre in Burgess Hill.

Inside they found three refugees from Kosovo and another three from Afghanistan.

The Kosovans, two women in their twenties and a man in his thirties, are believed to be among the first to seek asylum through Sussex since Europe and the United States launched bombing raids on Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's forces.

The six were taken to Crawley police station and later interviewed by immigration officers.

The Immigration Service was today unable to say how long it would take to decide their application.

Mrs Anne Jones, former chair of Mid Sussex Council who has advised other asylum seekers arrested trying to get into Britain, appealed for the refugees to be shown sympathy and understanding of their plight.

She said: "It's ironic that here we are in Mid Sussex and that we should be touched by events in Kosovo.

"I am just shocked by the whole thing. I think it is easy to condemn them as illegal immigrants.

"But surely we learned our lesson in the last war when a lot of people died because we didn't respond as quickly as we could have done."

The refugees are thought to have climbed into the back of the lorry just before it entered the Channel Tunnel in France.

The lorry was being driven by a driver from Kent. Insp Roy Apps, of Mid Sussex Police, said: "The lorry driver heard banging in the back of the van. He phoned us and we directed officers to surround the vehicle.

"When we saw the refugees, they were really rather frightened and didn't speak any English.

"They had an awful lot of belongings with them, lots of bags. There were crisp packets on the floor of the lorry."

Interpreters were called in to help interview the refugees before they were handed over to immigration officers.

Aspokesman for the Immigration Service said they had now been released and put in touch with refugee support groups and social services to arrange housing while their case was decided.

The spokesman added: "We have directed them to the immigration service at Croydon for their application to remain in the UK to be considered."

The refugees at Burgess Hill are the latest in the flood from Kosovo into this country.

Last year 7,395 applications for asylum were made. In January this year, 840 applied and last month the figure was 680.

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