178 undocumented Central Americans detained in Mexico


A total of 178 Central American illegal immigrants were discovered and detained when traveling in a truck in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas, Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM) said on Friday.

The immigrants were traveling hidden in the truck's false-bottom refrigeration box, which was pretending to transport lemons, the INM was quoted by the press as saying.

The arrested immigrants include 78 Guatemalans, 58 Salvadorans and 42 Hondurans, among which 42 are women and seven are minors. They all lacked official papers to reside in Mexico, INM officials said.

The truck driver has been arrested and accused of people-trafficking.

So far in 2007, over 10,000 people have been smuggled into Mexico across the Guatemalan border, according to INM statistics.

Source: Xinhua

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