Houston Police Discover 29 Captives in a Single House After Busting Suspected Human Trafficking Operation
An apparent human smuggling operation was discovered in Houston on Thursday, according to Houston police.
Police first received a report that a man in his underwear was running down a street claiming he had been kidnapped.
After police responded, they entered a house to find 29 people in the house, according to KHOU-TV. Police listed 26 of them as captives.
Halliday said police have detained three people as possible suspects pending further investigation. Police said that the captors tried to hide among the captives after police arrived, according to KTVT-TV
“I think what the suspects did is they undressed and they hid among the other people,” said Houston police Lt. Jose Torres.
“And so we pulled out the ones that looked clean, that still had their jewelry, most people were dirty and didn’t have jewelry on. These few people did,” he said.
Police said that when they entered the home, all of the individuals were in their underwear. Police said one captive was a female and the rest were male.
Southwest officers are at 4800 Raven Ridge. Officers received a report of a male in his briefs running down the street yelling that he had been kidnapped. The male advised that thirty more people were being held hostage in the house. Officers made entry and rescued approximately pic.twitter.com/kRWS89zuUy
— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) December 4, 2020
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The captives came from nations such as Honduras, El Salvador Mexico and Cuba, police said.
“Most of the people said they were picked up in Brownsville between two days and a week ago and that they were being held there,” police Commander Jonathon Halliday said, according to NBC News.
Police said that one of the men who was held captive was told that there would be a job awaiting him in Houston.
Officers just put one person who was in handcuffs in the back of one of these cruisers. One of the victims told officers they knew they were coming to Houston, were promised a job, but that changed when they got here. @KHOU #khou11 pic.twitter.com/HCqGkuwNhJ
— Chris Costa (@ChrisCostaTV) December 4, 2020
26 found in human smuggling operation in southwest Houston, police say https://t.co/Uo7Xl9UELk #hounews
— Matt Schwartz (@SchwartzChron) December 4, 2020
A nearby school was used as a temporary shelter for the victims.
Immigration authorities and the Department of Homeland Security were also investigating, police said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
