Mexico City [Mexico], July 19: Mexican authorities on Monday said they found more than 200 migrants in an abandoned lorry in the south-eastern state of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico.
The 206 migrants from Guatemala and Honduras, including 20 unaccompanied minors, believed to have been heading to the United States were found in the abandoned lorry near the city of Jose Cardel, some 280km east of Mexico City.
The National Guard and Immigration Department (INM) said the individuals were found in the lorry's trailer, which had been modified to hide its contents from x-ray scanning and fitted with a metal structure to create more space by adding a mezzanine.
The INM, citing the rescued individuals, said the trailer was overcrowded and that its passengers were dehydrated and had been drugged to inhibit their basic needs. Men, women and children were all found inside the trailer wearing identification bracelets, the INM said.
Authorities said that the driver had probably fled. The vehicle was handed over to the Attorney General's Office in Veracruz, the INM said.
Thousands of migrants fleeing poverty, violence and political crisis seek to reach the US via Mexico. The US border protection agency recorded more than 2 million attempts to cross the border into the US between October 2021 and October 2022.
They increasingly include migrants from Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba, alongside those from Central America.
Source: Qatar Tribune