A group of 28 adults and 10 children found living in tents close to the A67 motorway southwest of Eindhoven are from Iraq, police said on Sunday.

The group were found in a wooded area close to the Belgian border on Friday and taken by police to a refugee centre in nearby Budel. It is unclear how long they had been living in the woods, but they had bought in supplies and a makeshift toilet had been set up, broadcaster NOS said.

One report suggested they may have been in the region for two months and that staff at the local petrol station where they bought food and water had alerted the police earlier.

According to the NRC, the group did not wish to claim asylum in the Netherlands and were allowed to continue their journey. They may have been heading for Britain but were advised by the police to return to Iraq, the paper reported.

Bladel’s acting mayor Peter Maas told the NRC the A67 motorway is an ‘important route from the Ruhr industrial area in Germany to England’ and that he is concerned about the number of refugees found in the area.

‘The group had no papers and so sending them back to Iraq was not an option,’ Maas said. ‘On Saturday morning they walked out of the door, back into illegality.’

The rules, he said, allow people to have a choice. ‘So we have just let them disappear, without any form of guidance.’