Immigrants claim to be carjack victims; it doesn't wash

UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

3:42 p.m. May 1, 2008

CHULA VISTA – When the Border Patrol stopped a car that had just picked up a pair of illegal immigrants, the two suspected smugglers tried to play the role of victims, claiming they'd just been carjacked.
The agents didn't buy it, which is why the male driver and his female passenger are in custody today, said Border patrol spokesman Mark Endicott.

Around noon Wednesday, an agent stopped a Mazda sedan on Wueste Road after watching two suspected illegal immigrants get into the vehicle at Otay Lakes County Park.
As the agent approached, the driver and the woman jumped out, saying they had been carjacked.

Two illegal immigrants were found in the back seat, Endicott said.

A check of the Mazda turned up a .25-caliber handgun hidden between the driver's seat and the center console. Agents also found 37 rounds of .25-caliber ammunition and drug paraphernalia inside the car, the spokesman said.

A records check showed the male driver was a parolee at large and had been previously detained for firearms violations, said Endicott. His female passenger turned out to be on probation.

Both the driver and passenger are U.S. citizens and both are being held on suspicion of migrant smuggling, Endicott said. Their names were not released by the Border Patrol.

Further investigation showed the gun belonged to the driver and was used to threaten one of the illegal immigrants, Endicott said.

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