Police Find Marijuana and Undocumented Immigrants in Northeast El Paso Stash House

Posted: March 25, 2008 07:28 PM PDT

Posted by Armando Saldivar, KDBC 4 News

One by one, several children were removed from a Northeast El Paso home on Tuesday, believed to be the victims of a human trafficking operation. Authorities were led to them, after getting a tip of suspicious activities going on at a home in Northeast El Paso.

At 11:29 a.m. Police arrived at the home at 10757 Port Arthur, after an anonymous tip of suspicious activity in a red Ford Expedition. Inside the attached trailer, they say they found drugs and so they searched the home. "A cop came and he knocked on the door, and three guys came out and two guys just ran. After that all these cops started coming" said Patrick Spignardo, neighbor.

What police say they found inside the house was more than 23-hundred pounds of marijuana, but what they also uncovered were nine undocumented immigrants, six of whom are young children. "That's being handled through I.C.E. and their task force, so they're going to be going through their procedures and the process to obviously determine what exactly was happening and they will of course give them shelter" said Javier Sambrano, El Paso Police Department Public Information Officer.

Neighbors say the scene as the children were being escorted to an official van is a stark contrast to the children just days ago. "They had a birthday party not too long ago, this weekend as a matter of fact, and I really thought nothing of it" said Spignardo.

Arrested are 24-year-old Daniel Lopez, and 48-year-old Baltazar Galan Lopez. Now neighbors say their glad to see all three: the two men and the drugs with a street value of almost two million dollars, all off the streets. "It's just me and my mother here and there's always kids playing on the block and stuff could happen, someone could try to break into the house to steal the drugs and a bunch of stuff could happen" said Spignardo.

Police say some of the indicators of a stash house include rental homes, sometimes with attached garages and unkept yards. The home may have little or no furniture inside. You may also see different vehicles especially vans and pickup trucks entering and exiting the garage, and vehicles arriving at the home with out of town or paper dealer license plates. Accumulation of ads on the front door, and the occupants not using regular trash collection services may also be other indicators.

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