Critically ill teenage boy found in suitcase inside boot of car stopped by Border Force at Dover

Police have charged a Romanian man with attempted smuggling

Vehicles queuing at the Port of Dover in Kent (Yui Mok/PA Archive)

A Vietnamese boy was found critically ill inside a suitcase in the boot of a car after a suspected smuggler was stopped at Dover.

The child, who is believed to be aged 16, was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition but has since improved following treatment.

UK Border Force officials made the discovery after searching a silver Skoda Octavia entering the UK from France at 8.30pm on Wednesday.

The suitcase containing the boy was in the boot of the car.

Kent Police charged Andrei Iancu, 20, from Buzau, Romania, with attempting to smuggle a person into the UK to facilitate a breach of immigration law.

The charge was authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Iancu is in custody and is due to appear before Medway Magistrates Court on Friday.