A migrant smuggler hoping to escape the eye of local authorities used a cloned utility bucket truck to blend into legitimate traffic on busy Interstate 35 in South Texas. Police officers in Encinal, Texas spotted the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop and the driver failed to yield.
According to authorities, human smugglers branded the aerial bucket truck to match legitimate utility company trucks that normally operate in the area. The use of utility vehicles is becoming all too common on the busy I-35 corridor that stretches from Laredo, Texas, more than 1,500 miles to Duluth, Minnesota. The busy interstate highway runs right through Encinal, a tiny town with a population of just over 500 residents. The small local police force in Encinal routinely encounters human smugglers leaving the border region in Laredo some 38 miles to the south. The interstate can carry at least 200,000 vehicles per day in this area, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
Texas police arrest a group of migrants being smuggled on a cloned work truck. (La Salle County Sheriff’s Office)
The police department relies on help from the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office and Texas Highway Patrol troopers in the area to combat the rampant human smuggling through the small city. Spotting the smugglers amongst the thousands of vehicles traveling on the busy interstate is not an easy task.
Last week, authorities in La Salle County pursued a human smuggler driving another utility vehicle hoping to pass for local oil workers. In that pursuit, 20 migrants were hidden inside the truck when it crashed through a ranch fence near Encinal. Ultimately, authorities managed to arrest 11 migrants at the scene. The smuggler managed to avoid arrest.
During the same week, Texas Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol Troopers in La Salle County found 84 migrants hidden in a dump truck designed to carry gravel. The trucks are often used in road construction on local ranches to improve access for oil and gas companies. Police arrested the driver of the vehicle and charged him with 84 counts of human smuggling. The latest pursuits involving utility vehicles ended with no injuries to the officers, migrants, or smugglers. Some migrants being smuggled through the busy corridor have not been so lucky.
In June, 53 migrants died in a failed human smuggling attempt after being abandoned by traffickers in a sealed semi-tractor trailer. The vehicle carrying the migrants began the journey in Laredo and traveled through Encinal before being abandoned along the interstate near San Antonio. Police found 46 migrants dead inside the abandoned tractor-trailer. Seven died later at local hospitals from heat-related injuries. Among the dead were several teenage migrants. At least four survivors were juveniles. Two men were arrested and charged in the deadly human smuggling incident.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2022/11/01/human-smuggler-flees-texas-police-in-cloned-bucket-truck/