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Mexican police detain suspected child traffickers at Tijuana airport, rescue three children
The Associated Press

Published: September 10, 2006


MEXICO CITY Federal police said Sunday they had arrested two men they said were part of an international child-trafficking ring, and rescued three children aged 2, 4 and 6, at the international airport in the border city of Tijuana.
One of the adults initially told police he was the children's father, but further investigation revealed the men were attempting to smuggle the children into the United States without proper documents, police said.

The suspects said they had been hired by the children's grandmother to take them to the border, where they would presumably be meet by another smuggler.

It was not clear if the children were to have joined their real parents once in the United States. Undocumented migrants sometimes use smugglers to bring their children across the border to join them.

In a press statement, the Federal Preventative Police said the suspects appeared nervous at the airport, and that when asked, the children appeared confused about the suspect's claim he was their father.

The children are being housed at a local child welfare agency while the case is under investigation.