A suspected human smuggler was behind bars Monday after allegedly being caught at a Pine Valley-area U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint with three Mexican nationals stuffed in the sweltering trunk of his car.
The 22-year-old man, whose name was withheld, drove into the inspection station on Interstate 8 in a 2015 Kia Forte about 3 p.m. Sunday, according to USBP public affairs. When a service dog alerted agents to the presence of something suspicious in the vehicle, they asked the driver to open the trunk of his vehicle.
The motorist allegedly responded by trying to speed off, prompting officers to activate a tire-deflating device that forced him to stop.
Agents arrested the suspect and then found the migrants, who had been enduring 100-plus-degree heat and little air flow inside the car trunk. Authorities say they questioned them and determined that they were in the country illegally.
–City News Service
