A Texas sheriff deputy discovered a dozen illegal migrants crammed together inside hay bales in an alleged human smuggling scheme during a routine traffic stop Tuesday.
The deputy pulled over a white Ford F-250 pickup towing several massive bales of hay on a trailer driving along IH-10 near Flatonia just before 1 p.m., according to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.
When the officer got a closer look at the round hay bales, he was shocked to find 12 people hidden inside.
The smugglers had “meticulously altered and hollowed out” the bales to create cramped compartments where they could sneak people into to hide from the authorities, Sheriff Keith Korenek said.
The bales concealed a metal framework contraption fitted with small compartments where the illegal immigrants were hidden, according to Korenek.
“Inside those compartments, deputies discovered multiple undocumented individuals being smuggled in dangerously confined spaces,” the sheriff’s office statement read. “This method of concealment is not only deceptive but incredibly dangerous to human life.”
The driver of the F-250, identified by police as Delbert Flanders, 44, of Kansas, was arrested on state and federal smuggling charges and taken to a local hospital for unspecified medical treatment, Korenek said.
What type of medical treatment was not released by a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
Police also arrested two suspects who they identified as the “coordinators of the operation.”
Houston resident Adanaylo Lambert, 22, and Lency Delgado Fernandez, 25, were both charged with state and federal smuggling charges as well.
“Smugglers continue to use increasingly creative and hazardous techniques to transport individuals across Texas highways,” Korenek said in a statement.
The 12 undocumented people crammed into the counterfeit bales were turned over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for processing, according to the sheriff’s statement.
Officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Flatonia Police Department and Fayette County Sheriff’s Office deputies also were part of the arrest, according to Korneck.
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