U.S. Border Patrol Agents Discover Man in Gas Tank

CALEXICO – The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stopped a vehicle attempting to smuggle an undocumented Chinese man into the United States on Friday morning. Officials said that the 41-year-old Mexican citizen driver arrived at the Calexico East port entry at around 7:00 a.m. The man, who was in a 1998 Ford F-150 was sent aside for further inspection due to his nervous demeanor.

During the inspection of the vehicle “anomalies” were detected in the gas tank by the imaging system used to search. Further search into the gas tank area of the vehicle was done. The officers discovered a man hidden inside a compartment that was specially built in the gas tank of the pickup.  “The hidden compartment was built into the top half of the gas tank,” said CBP officials. “The bottom half of the gas tank contained enough gasoline for the pickup’s operation.”

The 31-year-old Chinese citizen was removed from the compartment and was escorted to another location for processing. He is on an immigration hold and will be removed from the U.S. following the criminal proceedings. The Mexicali resident driver was arrested and now faces federal charges for the attempted human smuggling attempt.

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