10 kids rescued from smugglers in US
Source: Agencies |
December 5, 2010, Sunday
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TEN children have been rescued from human smugglers who threatened to rape and kill some of them if their parents didn't pay more money for their entry into the US, authorities said on Friday.
Two people were arrested on smuggling, kidnapping and extortion charges. They were identified as Jaime Cruz Gutierrez, 44, and Olga Marino Fuentes, 41, who were both in the country illegally from Mexico.
The children, from two to 17 years old, were smuggled from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala and were being held against their will at a drop house in Phoenix, authorities said. Only one of them was being brought into the country with a parent.
The smugglers threatened to rape and kill three El Salvadoran sisters aged 12, 14 and 16 if their mother didn't pay them US$10,000, Arizona Department of Public Safety Captain Fred Zumbo said.
The girls' mother, who is living legally in the US in the San Francisco area, called the FBI for help, and Phoenix police and other agencies took over from there. Police found the home where the girls were being held, and found them and the other children when a SWAT team raided it on Thursday night.
None of the children appeared to have been harmed, and they had been fed and given water, Zumbo said.
"They seemed in fairly good condition considering what they went through," said Zumbo, who leads DPS' Illegal Immigration Prevention & Apprehension Co-op Team. "Who knows what would have happened if we hadn't rescued them."
Zumbo said it's unusual to find so many children in one drop house unaccompanied by a family member.
DPS officials said more than US$9,600 in cash was seized from the drop house along with a vehicle and a pistol.
Two people were arrested on smuggling, kidnapping and extortion charges. They were identified as Jaime Cruz Gutierrez, 44, and Olga Marino Fuentes, 41, who were both in the country illegally from Mexico.
The children, from two to 17 years old, were smuggled from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala and were being held against their will at a drop house in Phoenix, authorities said. Only one of them was being brought into the country with a parent.
The smugglers threatened to rape and kill three El Salvadoran sisters aged 12, 14 and 16 if their mother didn't pay them US$10,000, Arizona Department of Public Safety Captain Fred Zumbo said.
The girls' mother, who is living legally in the US in the San Francisco area, called the FBI for help, and Phoenix police and other agencies took over from there. Police found the home where the girls were being held, and found them and the other children when a SWAT team raided it on Thursday night.
None of the children appeared to have been harmed, and they had been fed and given water, Zumbo said.
"They seemed in fairly good condition considering what they went through," said Zumbo, who leads DPS' Illegal Immigration Prevention & Apprehension Co-op Team. "Who knows what would have happened if we hadn't rescued them."
Zumbo said it's unusual to find so many children in one drop house unaccompanied by a family member.
DPS officials said more than US$9,600 in cash was seized from the drop house along with a vehicle and a pistol.
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