Four lorry drivers every week are being arrested at Dover’s Eastern Docks for bringing stun guns into the UK.

Many of the weapons are disguised as torches – and drivers from the Continent, where they are sold legally, are using them for protection against stowaways.

A senior judge has warned truckers they face a minimum of five years behind bars for bringing the weapons into the UK.

Judge Adele Williams said the message needed to go out “loud and clear” to HGV drivers that stun guns are prohibited in the UK under the 1968 Firearms Act.

“Not only is it illegal to bring them in but it is treated very seriously by the courts because they are weapons which can cause serious harm.”

Sentencing guidelines recommend judges hand out stiff jail sentences to those caught with the illegal weapons in their cabs.

A Lithuanian driver, Thomas Praspalaliauskas, 26, was jailed today for 14 months for possessing a disguised weapon.

Puneet Rai, defending, said the driver was ignorant of the UK ban and had only bought the stun gun after being assured it wouldn't seriously hurt anyone.

Prosecutor Jim Harvey said the driver had been stopped in Dover in October and asked if he was carrying a taser or stun gun.

The driver denied he had any weapon but Border Force officers discovered an empty packet and he produced the stun gun from his cab, Canterbury Crown Court was told.

Ms Rai said he claimed he had only ever used the weapon as a torch and was ignorant of the ban.

But the judge said: “That is something many defendants claim but I don’t find that compelling.

"He was an international lorry driver who would make sure he knew what he could take over borders.”

A spokesman for the Freight Transport Association says she is not surprised some drivers have decided to take the law into their own hands.

FTA spokesman Julie Maddox told KentOnline: "I went over to France last year and came back through Calais in the cab of a lorry.

"The drivers are not exaggerating. They are surrounded on a regular basis by people with knives, guns, baseball bats, bricks, any weapons they can find.

"They have people dropping from bridges and cutting their way into the lorries, without the drivers' knowledge.

"We don't condone the use of stun guns, of course, but when the drivers are fearing for their lives you can almost understand why they would feel the need to have them.

Mrs Maddox said the much-touted security fencing, installed after events last summer, appear to have made little difference.

"The extra fencing is not working. When we were there we saw people able to roam quite freely in the area that's meant to be secure."