see also: in November 2007 News Releases:   CBP Officers Seize 50 Pounds of Cocaine, Three Pounds of Heroin, Guns & Ammo, Arrest 22 For Illegal Entry and Arrest 20 Fugitives During Two-Week Holiday Span at Laredo Port of Entry   Border Patrol Agents Arrest Convicted Sex Offender   Border Patrol Seizes One Ton of Marijuana at Sierra Blanca Checkpoint   Border Patrol Yields $3.7 Million in a Day’s Seizures   Border Patrol and Coast Guard Sign Cooperation Agreement   CBP Seized Cocaine Concealed in Suitcase   Border Patrol Agents Seize 5,450 Pounds of Marijuana Near Freer ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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El Paso, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at the Paso Del Norte port of entry in El Paso, Texas were surprised to find a man hidden in a suitcase during an inspection early Tuesday morning. Two people were taken into custody in the failed alien smuggling attempt.

“It is certainly unusual and something we rarely encounter at the El Paso port,” said Polly Figueroa, acting El Paso port director for CBP. “The majority of illegal immigration attempts we see at the El Paso port involve imposters, the use of counterfeit documents or people making false claims to U.S. citizenship.”

The discovery was made just after midnight when a 1997 Ford Escort entered the port from Mexico. A CBP officer performing an inspection on the vehicle examined a large suitcase in the backseat in which he discovered a man. Both the driver of the vehicle and the man in the suitcase were taken into custody by CBP.

The driver of the vehicle, 42-year-old Martin Enriquez Hernandez of Denver, was charged with alien smuggling. The man in the suitcase, 26-year-old Jesus Ivan Payan Estrada of Anahuac, Chihuahua, Mexico, was taken into custody on reentry after deportation charges. The men were acquaintances and were planning to travel to Denver together when stopped by CBP officers.

While the discovery a person concealed in any manner is rare at the El Paso port of entry, CBP officers at other ports of entry have found people concealed in piñatas, sewn into car seats, inside gas tanks, under dashboards and in a variety other locations in vehicles.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of the nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.