Texas OLS finding stash houses, arresting gang members, smugglers

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(The Center Square) – Texas Operation Lone Star border security efforts are ongoing with major busts in the last few weeks by Texas Department of Public Safety officers. 

Despite record low illegal crossings, border crime interdiction is ongoing in the interior of Texas and is active in the border counties of Webb and Maverick.

DPS OLS officers recently uncovered a stash house and captured a wanted criminal foreign national and gang member in Maverick County and continue to interdict human smuggling operations in Webb County. 

In Maverick County, DPS troopers responded to a tip about a stash house operating out of a hotel in Eagle Pass. They found four Honduras illegally in the country hiding under blankets in a hotel room occupied by Texas and Missouri residents.

Two of the illegal foreign nationals were confirmed Rollin’ 30s Crips gang members deemed inadmissible with a history of illegal reentry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. One was wanted by the New Orleans Police Department on multiple felony warrants charging armed robbery and aggravated assault with a firearm. He was arrested and booked into the county jail. Two U.S. citizens were also arrested, charged with operating a stash house. The other illegal foreign nationals were referred to Border Patrol, DPS said.

The bust was an outworking of the Texas Stash House Rewards Program. Members of the public who report potential stash houses, pill press operations and methamphetamine conversion laboratories used in transnational crimes may be eligible for up to $5,000 in reward money.

In Webb County, within a span of 10 days, DPS troopers thwarted two major smuggling events, finding roughly 40 people hiding inside of trucks. 

In one traffic stop, they found nearly two dozen illegal foreign nationals concealed inside a truck tractor. In another, they recovered 20 people hiding inside a cloned truck tractor. Both finds were the result of OLS traffic interdiction efforts. 

In the first, a DPS trooper conducted a traffic stop on a white Peterbilt truck tractor on I-35 outside of Laredo. A search was performed, which led to officers finding the foreign nationals hiding in the truck tractor's sleeping area.

The driver, a Nevada resident, was charged with smuggling of persons and booked into the county jail. The foreign nationals, citizens of Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala, were referred to Border Patrol, DPS said. 

In another case, a DPS trooper conducted a traffic stop on a white Volvo truck tractor on I-35 also outside of Laredo. The driver pulled over and attempted to flee on foot but was immediately arrested, DPS said. The vehicle was searched and 20 illegal foreign nationals were found concealed in the truck tractor's sleeping area. Through the investigation, it was discovered the truck tractor was a cloned vehicle, DPS said.

The driver, a Mexican national, was charged with evading arrest and smuggling of persons. He was also booked into the county jail. All of the foreign nationals, citizens of Mexico and Guatemala, including four minors, were referred to Border Patrol. 

Since Gov. Greg Abbott launched OLS in March 2021, OLS officers have arrested more than half a million people and deterred more than 160,000 illegal entries, The Center Square reported.