A man wanted for rape in Yorkshire has been arrested by Port of Dover police.

It was one of more than 1,270 incidents dealt with by the port’s police force during February.

A Lithuanian man who attempted to smuggle his two dogs into the UK by sedating them and concealing them behind wooden panelling in the horse box he was towing was also arrested.

He had previously been refused travel at Dunkirk after it was established he did not have the necessary paperwork to import the animals. Consideration is now being given to charging him with offences of cruelty in addition to his disregard of UK Animal Health legislation.

On two separate occasions officers recovered high-value BMW motor cars that had been stolen in the London area as a result of house burglaries. The identity of the vehicles had been deliberately changed and on both occasions they were just yards away from a ferry to mainland Europe, and would never have been seen within the UK again. Three Lithuanian men were arrested.

Other arrests included six people for attempting to smuggle animals into the country, six for shoplifting, three for offensive weapons, 16 for being subject to arrest warrants, five for drink driving and six for driving while disqualified.

One man arrested for driving while disqualified for a third time was sentenced to 90 days imprisonment with a further 30 days added to the sentence for failing to appear at the initial court hearing.

Among the 26 traffic collisions attended by port police, one involved a Polish lorry and a Lithuanian lorry. The Polish driver was arrested for criminal damage and assault when he attempted to administer his own form of justice on the driver responsible for the collision.

Officers also investigated a report of a body of a man at the foot of the cliffs at Fan Bay. They had to wade through the water up to their waists to reach the body, and prevented it floating back out to sea until the lifeboat arrived to recover it.