British pilot held over people smuggling

♦ A British pilot and two other UK nationals have been arrested by French police on suspicion of peoplesmuggling as their Cessna plane was about to fly from Calais to Britain with four Albanian migrants on board.

“This is the first time we have come across attempted people smuggling by plane” in the Calais region, Philippe Sabatier, the Boulogne deputy prosecutor handling the case, told The Daily Telegraph.

Officials would not give the names of the arrested men, who were aged between 45 and 54. One of the four Albanian migrants and her child had “disappeared” after they were sent to hospital for checks, officials said. The other two were being held in a migrant detention centre.