12 illegal immigrants arrested
Posted on Thursday, January 25, 2007
BENTONVILLE - Deputies found 12 illegal immigrants hiding under coats Tuesday night after a traffic stop along U. S. Highway 412, said Doug Gay, public information deputy for the Benton County Sheriff's Office.
Corey Coggin, a deputy with the BCSO's drug interdiction team, was working on Highway 412 just east of the Arkansas / Oklahoma state line when he noticed a suspicious van traveling east, Gay said. The van had been weaving over the highway dividing line, and Coggin noticed the vehicle had no tag light, Gay said.
After stopping the van, the driver first identified himself as Alexander Lopez-Nieves with a Mexican driver's license. Coggin found other documentation identifying the driver as Andres Gaspar Pascual, 26, who then told the deputy his Mexican driver's license was valid.
James Walls, another member of the interdiction team, arrived and when he approached the van, he noticed what he thought was a person or people hiding under some coats in the back of the vehicle, Gay said. The deputies then found 12 males hiding in the van under blankets and coats. It was later determined they were not in the United States legally, Gay said.
The driver was the only one who spoke English, Gay said.
Immigration Customs Enforcement was notified and asked deputies to take the men to the Benton County Jail and place a hold on the group, Gay said.
Deputies were told the group had left Colorado and were traveling to Florida, but deputies also found a receipt from Alabama, Gay said. The van also had an Alabama license plate, he said.
Immigration officials are now handling the investigation, Gay said.
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