Thaindian News

Mexico City, March 31 (IANS/EFE) As many as 89 illegal immigrants, who displayed “evident signs of dehydration”, were found inside the trailer of a truck in eastern Mexico, authorities said.

The migrants were discovered Tuesday near the city of Nanchital at kilometer 5 of the 180-D Nuevo Teapa-Cosoleacaque national highway in Veracruz state when officers stopped a tractor-trailer and asked the driver about his cargo.

The driver, identified as Jesus Oropeza Valerio, “appeared extremely nervous and said he was transporting materials and medical equipment from Las Choapas to Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz”, but he did not have a cargo manifest, the Public Safety Secretariat said.

Oropeza Valerio has a prior criminal record in Mexico state for people trafficking, the secretariat said.

Officers heard sounds coming from inside the sealed trailer and found 45 Guatemalans, 36 Salvadorans, seven Hondurans and an Ecuadorian inside, the secretariat said.

Three people found inside the trailer were identified by the migrants as the individuals in charge of their transportation.

The three suspects are Raul Barraza Estrada, 34, Juan Manuel Martinez Saldana, 34, and a 17-year-old whose name was not released.

The migrants were turned over to the National Migration Institute, or INM, in Veracruz, while the minor and the two adult males were handed over to federal prosecutors.

Authorities detained nearly 5,000 migrants last month across Mexico, the INM said in a report released earlier this month.

“A total of 4,612 foreigners were taken into custody by the National Migration Institute (INM) during the second month of this year,” the agency said.

–IANS/EFE
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