Normal things you see on the road may not be what they seem.
If you see a Ford F-250 pulling a goose-neck flatbed trailer down a Texas highway with massive circular bales of hay ratcheted down, you’d assume they were as dense and heavy as they appeared and on their way to feed livestock on a Texas farm.
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Think again. In this case, ‘bales of hay’ is the most recent disguise used to sneak individuals across the border and into Texas.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic check on a vehicle for unclear reasons on Interstate 10. While approaching the car, the deputy observed something unusual about the bales of hay being delivered.
Upon closer inspection, the deputy found that someone had hollowed out the hay bales to create a chamber for smuggling persons.
After opening one of the hay bales, sheriff’s deputies discovered 12 unauthorized immigrants. These individuals were apprehended and transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for processing.
Two people were charged with human smuggling
Authorities apprehended two people who appeared to be in command of the operation.
- 22-year-old Adanaylo Lambert, Houston
- 25-year-old Lency Delgado Fernandez, Houston
These people are now facing federal and state human smuggling accusations. The truck’s driver, 44-year-old Delbert Flanders of Kansas, was taken to the hospital for medical treatment.
The hay bales used to conceal the undocumented migrants were made of a wire framework wrapped in layers of hay to give the appearance of being unsuspecting. Smugglers will go to considerable lengths to get individuals across the border, often with no regard for the lives of those being smuggled. Smugglers view these individuals as mere commodities.
Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek says he and his officers have never seen a smuggling scheme involving hay bales before.
