Up to 20 suspected illegal immigrants jumped from the back of a lorry as it stopped outside an engineering factory.

The group, believed to be men aged between 20 and 30, fled after jumping from the articulated lorry near HPC Engineering on the Victoria Industrial Estate, Burgess Hill, yesterday lunchtime.

Police scoured the area and found 16 men by 2.30pm.

They were being held at police stations in Crawley and Chichester before being passed to immigration officers.

The first four men were discovered at 12.50pm outside McDonald's in the town centre. Another four were found ten minutes later in Station Road. Just after 1pm a further two were found in Royal George Road and the remaining six were caught by 2.30pm.

Inspector Tim Tapley, of Sussex Police, said their quick capture sent a warning to other people who could be thinking of trying something similar.

He said it had been relatively easy to identify the men because none of them could speak English when approached.

Police also want to speak to the driver of the German lorry which had been scheduled to make a delivery at the factory to identify whether he was aware of the stowaways.

HPC company secretary David Marchant said: "We heard a lorry had arrived at the site and when the doors opened a group of men jumped out and ran off. We can only assume they were illegal immigrants."

Robert Lurring, 19, who works at Maxim Lamps opposite the factory, said he had seen the police officers looking for the men for most of the day.

Earlier in the year police and immigration officers raided Fortes bakery, also in Victoria Industrial Estate.

They arrested 17 Brazilians who had forged identity cards and lied about their nationality in order to get jobs.

Inspector Tim Tapley said immigration officers would be dealing with the group of 16.

He said he could not be sure all the men had been caught as the number who jumped out of the lorry was not known.

He urged anyone who sees anything suspicious to contact Sussex Police on 0845 6070999.