SAN DIEGO — Border Patrol agents said they discovered three men hidden in a specially built compartment of an SUV at the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego, authorities said.
In a news release, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that agents at the San Ysidro entry point on Friday found the men locked in the compartment, which offered no easy access to exit without help.
According to the San Diego Sector Border Patrol, the incident happened on Friday around 11 a.m. PDT, KGTV reported. Agents say a 29-year-old man from the U.S. was driving a 2007 Hyundai Veracruz and applied for entry at the San Ysidro border crossing, the television station reported.
While at the inspection booth, a CBP officer examining the vehicle noticed a person inside the spare tire compartment in the rear cargo area of the vehicle, according to the news release.
The officer removed the three men from the compartment and escorted them to a secure location for further processing, the release stated.
Officials said the men -- ages 29, 24 and 21 -- were all residents of Mexico and did not have any documents to allow them to enter the U.S., KGTV reported.
Customs officials seized the vehicle, and the three men will be returned to Mexico, according to the television station.
“A person’s life is always in danger when smugglers use specially built compartments to smuggle people across the border,” Sidney Aki, director of field operations in San Diego, said in a statement. “Smugglers will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, even if that means risking human lives.”
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