Dutch police are investigating the possibility of human trafficking after he found the boy from a compartment in a plane at Maastricht Aachen Airport in Limburg on Thursday.
“For us it is a miracle,” said a spokesman for the Dutch police. “If someone puts it away like this, he usually dies due to the cold or a lack of oxygen,” said Marvin Engh, a spokesman for the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, one of the national police forces in the country.
The policeman was taken to a hospital with hypothermia, but has since fully recovered.
He started his journey in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and from there went to Istanbul, Turkey, before continuing to London, according to Engh.
The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 5791 meters and a speed of 460 miles per hour.
The refugee’s refugee arrived in London earlier Thursday morning from Istanbul and spent three hours there before leaving for Maastricht.
Stansted officials have confirmed that the flight on which the departure was traveling is operated by the airline, which is Turkey’s national flag carrier.
Police do not know how he hid on his other flights, but a spokesman for London Stansted Airport told CNN that he was not on board the plane, which means he probably climbed THY6305 in Istanbul.
Turkish Airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
He applied for asylum and his claim is being handled by the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Engh said.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, Bart Vis, said the INS could not comment on individual cases due to privacy laws.
Dutch police said the investigation into people smuggling is a standard procedure and the health and well-being of the child is the priority for authorities.
CNanne’s Rosanne Roobeek contributed to this report.