TUCSON – Border Patrol agents assigned to the Willcox Station apprehended a male United States citizens Thursday afternoon for attempting to smuggle 10 Mexican nationals into the U.S.
An agent spotted two suspicious vehicles driving east on Apache Pass Road that appeared to be traveling together when he decided to investigate. The agent stopped one of the vehicles, a Chevy Silverado, in the parking lot of a convenience store in Bowie, Arizona, and questioned the driver, a U.S. citizen, and a male Mexican national. During the encounter, the agent observed four people lying in the truck’s rear floor area where a back seat had been removed, and found five more people in the bed of the truck, under a black tonneau hard cover which could only be opened from the outside.
All individuals are being processed in accordance with Tucson Sector guidelines. The driver faces human smuggling charges while the undocumented aliens are being processed for immigration violations.