CORAL GABLES, Fla. – More vans filled with suspected migrants from China were stopped Tuesday morning in Coral Gables, authorities confirmed to Local 10 News.
According to a source, 13 migrants each were inside two separate vans and were detained. The drivers of both vans were also taken into custody.
WATCH BELOW: Coral Gables police give update on suspected Chinese migrants detained Tuesday
One van was stopped outside of Gables Estates at the corner of Southwest 88th Street and Old Cutler Road. The other van was stopped along Kendall Drive, according to the source.
Police confirmed that they received 911 calls around 8 a.m. regarding two vans possibly transporting migrants. Authorities also confirmed that a total of 26 Chinese migrants were found inside the vans.
“We believe they came by boat,” Coral Gables police Chief Ed Hudak said. “They came into a secluded area around the southern end of Coral Gables.”
5 p.m. report:
Sky 10 was above the Kendall Drive scene around 8:30 a.m. as the van was stopped on the side of the roadway and the migrants were sitting on the ground.
While the two suspected smugglers were arrested, it’s unclear where the migrants were transported to. Police confirmed that one suspected smuggler was of Cuban descent and the other was of Puerto Rican descent.
They were identified Wednesday as Joel Benjamin Eusebio, 23, and Robert Alejandro Zayas Pozo, who was arrested on his 46th birthday.
Police deferred further questions about the migrants to Homeland Security Investigations.
Tuesday’s incidents come after another group of Chinese migrants were detained in the Gables earlier this month.
In that case, nearly two dozen migrants were taken into federal custody Jan. 17 after Coral Gables police disrupted a suspected human smuggling operation.
Officers responded to reports of suspicious activity near the Snapper Creek Canal, where a witness believed they saw a kidnapping in progress.
“A very alert security professional at one of our homeowners associations observed an abduction in progress,” Hudak explained earlier in the month.
A be-on-the-lookout alert led officers to locate a U-Haul van and a tan Toyota near the 6700 block of LeJeune Road.
Inside the U-Haul authorities said they discovered 21 migrants, including individuals from China, Ecuador, Cuba, and Brazil.