Two seperate smuggling incidents keep authorities busy

A 50-year-old Mexican man was in federal custody in San Diego Tuesday for allegedly trying to smuggle 73 illegal immigrants inside a big rig, a newspaper reported.

Border Patrol agents searching the truck at the Interstate 8 checkpoint in Pine Valley late Sunday afternoon noticed that the man looked nervous, officials from the agency told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Fifty men and 23 women were inside the truck, according to the newspaper. A plastic container that apparently contained methamphetamine was found inside the cab, the Union-Tribune reported.

The driver was arrested on suspicion of alien smuggling, the Union- Tribune reported. His name was not immediately reported.

Sunday’s arrests was the third of its kind in the last three months. On March 6, agents found 25 people from Mexico inside the cargo area of a tractor- trailer and on April 29, 11 people were found inside the modified compartment of a truck.

Meanwhile, in Del Mar,  22 suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody early Tuesday morning after a small boat came ashore in Del Mar.

The boat arrived in the pre-dawn hours, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Nineteen people were taken into custody on the beach. Three tried to escape by taking the boat back out to sea. The boat was stopped and the remaining people on board taken into custody about three miles off shore, according to the Coast Guard.

Tags: SDNN

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