Police in Hungary stop group of Afghan refugees who claim they have spent three years walking Britain
Kabul, Afghanistan - When they set out on their epic journey, new X-Factor winner Leona Lewis was number one with her first single.
It was January 2007 and the four teenagers decided they would walk to London – home, they thought, of the best music in the world.
Unfortunately, they lived in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, and faced an almost 4,000-mile trek to get to Britain.
Three years and three months later, the foot-sore refugees have been arrested in Hungary.
Some 1,200 miles short of their destination, they may now be deported back to their homeland.
Police in Harkany, southern Hungary, revealed today how they had detained the bedraggled group two thirds of the way into their pop-inspired mission.
'London is where the best music comes from so that's where we want to walk to,' one of the young men told officers.
They claimed they had already covered 2,500 miles on foot since leaving Afghanistan and were intent on reaching Britain.
Once across the Channel they planned to seek asylum, saying they could not return to their war-torn community for fear of their lives.
When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, Western rock and pop music was barred and listening to it was severely punished.
The same ban still applies in areas where Taliban insurgents hold sway.
Hungarian police found the refugees sleeping rough in a cemetery where they were living on rubbish foraged from nearby bins, said spokesman Peter Zsobrak.
Whether the four were inspired to walk to the UK by the Beatles, Britpop or the X-Factor alone was unclear tonight.
They were in custody awaiting an immigration hearing to decide their fate, police said.
Miss Lewis, on the other hand, has found international fame and fortune since that first single A Moment Like This topped the charts, going on to become a multi-platinum selling singer.
The Afghan youngsters are not the first to try to make it into Britain on foot. In August 2001, 44 asylum seekers were arrested after walking much of the way through the 23-mile long Channel Tunnel from the Sangatte refugee camp near Calais.
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