Hourly Update

2 arrested at San Luis for smuggling border crossers in boat

Customs officers at the San Luis Port of Entry, near Yuma, found three border crossers hidden in a boat as it was towed across the border Monday. The 1974 Bayliner Saratoga boat in tow on a truck caught the attention of the officers, who questioned a 46-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman about their visit to Mexico and return to the United States, said Brian Levin, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The officers searched the boat and found a person hidden in the cabin and two more people in structural areas under the cabin. The driver and passenger, who are U.S. citizens, were arrested and the border crossers are being held as material witnesses. The case will be prosecuted in Phoenix, said Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona. It is the first case in a long time in which people were hidden, an unusual tactic for smugglers who cross at ports, Levin said. Customs officers at the San Luis port, about 25 miles south of Yuma, have stopped 62 people from being smuggled through the port since Oct. 1, he said.