Police find 20 Cubans at Mexico home
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 07/01/2008 06:20:19 PM MDT


CANCUN, Mexico—Police found 20 Cuban migrants hidden at two safe houses in the Mexican resort city of Cancun on Tuesday.
One of the migrants said they had paid $15,000 each to be smuggled to the United States. As he was being removed from the house, the Cuban told police he wanted his money back.

The Cubans, 18 men and two women, were taken to a local jail and are likely to be handed over to immigration authorities.

Federal police staked out the two homes after suspicious activity led them to believe there were clandestine drug labs inside, said Guadalupe Cerino, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office.

They obtained search warrants. But instead of drugs, they found the migrants hidden under tarpaulins.

Some migrants and the smugglers who brought the Cubans to Cancun apparently escaped by jumping over a wall.

Cubans are increasingly traveling through Mexico to try to reach the U.S. by land instead of trying to get past U.S. Coast Guard patrols off Florida.


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