Authorities took nearly 30 people into custody in Coral Gables on Friday as part of an investigation into a potential human smuggling or trafficking operation. Law enforcement officials, including Coral Gables Police, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security, were all present at the scene near Ingraham Park.
Footage from the scene showed multiple women being patted down and placed in custody. One witness reported seeing people being arrested near a U-Haul van and others being transported on a trolley. The investigation is ongoing, with authorities working to determine the full scope of the operation.
Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak confirmed on Friday that 23 people found in a U-Haul van and five others in a Toyota were taken into custody as part of an investigation into a possible human smuggling or trafficking operation. The individuals in the U-Haul included 6 females and 15 males from China, along with a Cuban man and a woman from Ecuador. The five people in the Toyota consisted of two Cuban men, a Brazilian woman, and two men from Ecuador.
Hudak initially provided figures that suggested more than 30 people were involved. Authorities are now investigating whether the operation was linked to smuggling or trafficking, with four individuals, including one of the women, believed to be behind the operation. The investigation is ongoing as authorities continue to piece together the details of the case.
“Smuggling is a criminal assistance to somebody who illegally wants to enter the country,” Hudak said. “The human trafficking side is really not, they may have started off trying to enter the country and they get into a nefarious act where individuals are bringing them here for indentured servitude, criminal activity.”
Hudak said the incident unfolded around 9:30 a.m. when a “very alert” security guard from a local homeowner’s association observed what she believed was an abduction on Old Cutler Road involving the Toyota and U-Haul.
“We responded to this as an abduction in progress,” Hudak said. “As a cop, whether it be a child or something else, when you hear that kind of call, it’s all hands on deck and that’s exactly what you all saw was that every officer in Coral Gables south of U.S. 1 was getting there as quickly as they can.”
The security guard notified police and an officer spotted the vehicles, which were stopped by authorities.
Officers quickly noticed the U-Haul was full of people, and all involved were taken into custody and turned over to federal authorities, Hudak said.
A group of individuals is believed to have been transported by boat and dropped off at the southern end of Coral Gables before being loaded into a van. Marine patrols were dispatched to search for the boat, but it was not located, according to authorities. Fire rescue teams responded to the scene to ensure the safety of the people involved, who were medically cleared before being transferred to federal authorities.
