Captives in alleged drop house climb out window, call police (AZFamily.com)

Captives in alleged drop house climb out window, call police
10:17 PM Mountain Standard Time on Monday, March 31, 2008

The following news release was issued by the Arizona Department of Public Service:

PHOENIX - On March 31st at about 3:30pm, two UDA’s being held inside a house at 3420 W. Fraktur Road, escaped through a second floor bathroom window, went to a neighbors house and called police to say they were being held against their will. Phoenix Police responded whereupon 14 people came out of the house. One of the suspected human smugglers (coyotes) tried to blend in with the others. Two more suspected smugglers exited the house, one carried a loaded weapon.

Personnel from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) assigned to the Illegal Immigration Prevention and Apprehension Co-op Team better known as IIMPACT, responded to help further investigate the situation. IIMPACT includes Phoenix Police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Arizona Financial Crimes Task Force.

All three suspects were arrested and transported downtown. They will be charged with conspiracy to commit human smuggling.

The remaining 14 UDA’s (12 men and 2 women) were being questioned by IIMPACT detectives and will be placed in the custody of ICE. Several UDA’s claimed to have been held at that location for the past 9 days. They also said they had not eaten in 3 days. One man told detectives the smugglers threatened to take him out to the desert and shoot him if his family in Mexico didn’t come up with thousands of dollars in ransom money.