Deputies arrest 2 for smuggling after finding 12 in van

MOAB, Utah (AP) — Grand County sheriff’s deputies arrested two people on charges of smuggling after finding 12 people crammed into a van with darkly tinted windows, a TV station reported Saturday.

A sheriff’s deputy stopped the van Friday because of the tinted windows on Highway 191 in Moab.

Officer Jamison Wiggins said in a probable cause statement obtained by KUTV-TV that the passengers as young as 15 were lying on the floor or crammed into the back without seats. Urine bottles were found throughout the van and the passengers said they had paid to be transported to destinations across the U.S.

Wiggins described the occupants of the vehicle as “terrified.”

A Grand County judge ordered Mexican citizens Mauricio Tellez, 32, and Abel Alvarez, 38, held without bail.

It was unclear Saturday if they had an attorney.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office did not return calls from media outlets.