Human Smugglers Busted Using ‘cloned’ FedEx Vehicles to Sneak Migrants into the US; Border Patrol: Smuggled Migrants Found in Fake FedEx Vans

Human smugglers busted using ‘cloned’ FedEx vehicles to sneak migrants into the US:

Smugglers used “cloned” FedEx vehicles in an attempt to bring 26 illegal migrants into El Paso, Texas, US Customs and Border Protection officials said.

The Border Patrol’s Santa Teresa Station Anti-Smuggling Unit received a tip about the plan, with agents and state troopers stopping vehicles, two of which were outfitted to look exactly like typical white FedEx vans.

Officials arrested four smugglers involved in the scheme, as well as apprehending the 26 migrants, who were from Mexico and Guatemala, on June 8.

Border Patrol sources told The Post there is a FedEx facility very close to the border in Santa Teresa, New Mexico — which is part of the El Paso sector and a known pick up area for smugglers and migrants.

“We joked that they [smugglers] were either going to pay a FedEx driver to smuggle migrants or that they were going to clone a truck,” one agent said.

Border Patrol agent Sean Coffey said the tactic isn’t new, but hasn’t been used in recent years.

“We haven’t seen a FedEx vehicle in some time,” he told KTSM. “We do see other types of vehicles used, like construction vehicles, vehicles that they put a sticker on [so] that [it] looks like a company vehicle.”

Coffey condemned the smuggling scheme as a great danger to the lives of the migrants, following recent tragedies where dozens of people have died in the back of poorly ventilated trucks trying to sneak past the border. —>READ MORE HERE

Border Patrol: Smuggled migrants found in fake FedEx vans:

Turns out this wasn’t a job for FedEx.

Officials announced Wednesday that U.S. Border Patrol agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers recently intercepted fake FedEx delivery vans in west El Paso that had illegally carried migrants across the border.

Agents were on the lookout for the purple and orange logo after getting a credible tip of a smuggling scheme using cloned FedEx vans, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

After stopping three suspicious vehicles — two of which were made to look like FedEx vans — agents found 26 migrants hidden inside the trucks Friday evening. Four smugglers were arrested, the release said.

The smuggled migrants were from Mexico and Guatemala, according to Border Patrol. All of them were in good health and processed accordingly. —>READ MORE HERE

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