THE "jungle drums" are beating alerting would-be people smugglers that Poole is a port where illegal immigrants have a chance of evading detection.

That is the fear as a man who helped mastermind the smuggling of illegal immigrants into the UK through Poole port was found guilty at the Old Bailey.

The Chinese "snakehead" boss Zhang Yong Hui, 35, faces years in prison after bringing at least 20 immigrants into the UK through a number of ports, including Poole, as part of a crime syndicate and charging them around £15,000 each.

On one occasion Zhang was stopped at Poole with two Chinese illegal immigrants who had come over on a ferry from St Malo in France.

The two men were turned away but Zhang was allowed to stay, having already sought asylum. Zhang has been found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to assist illegal entry, false imprisonment and causing grievous bodily harm.

He is now awaiting sentencing.

The case comes only a week after an illegal immigrant was found crushed to death in a lorry in Poole.

An Iraqi Kurd died in the lorry, which arrived on a ferry from France via Portsmouth.

His body was found when the Spanish lorry was stopped by police on the Upton bypass on August 17.

Two suspected refugees were also arrested at the scene, while three more ran off.

Poole MP Robert Syms has warned that moving frontline Customs and Excise officials away from Poole to other main gateway ports, such as Dover, is leaving the town more exposed to people traffickers.

He said: "The jungle drums will be beating and people will soon realise that Poole is a softer touch.

"There are only a few immigration people at Poole. The customs officers are the front line and are in touch with the movements in the port. If they are shoved to Dover the chances of immigrants being caught are not so good."

Poole council leader Cllr Brian Leverett said: "The government has to make the necessary resources available in order that the appropriate authorities, be they police, immigration or Customs and Excise, can have the strictest security to ensure illegal immigrants can't enter.

"Ports such as Poole must be seen as 'no entry' for this type of thing."

A spokeswoman for the immigration department at the Home Office said she could not comment on the Zhang case, but said: "Anyone who contravenes immigration rules will be dealt with."