Police: Nearly 30 found in Texas human smuggling operation

Police in Texas say more than two dozen people who were possibly being held as a part of a human smuggling operation have been removed from a house in Houston

Human Smuggling Arrests (© 2020 Mark Mulligan / Houston Chronicle)

More than two dozen people who police in Texas believe were being held as a part of a possible human smuggling operation have been removed from a house in Houston

One of the men was seen Thursday running down a residential street in his underwear, yelling that he had been kidnapped, according to a social media post by Houston police. The man led officers to a home where at least 25 men and one woman were found, all only wearing undergarments.

A police spokesperson told reporters that some of the people inside the home appeared to have been wearing only underwear to blend in with the others, but they were clean while the others were dirty, tipping off officers that those few may have been running the operation.

A few people possibly involved in the smuggling operation were detained, authorities said.

The people who had been held at the home were mostly from Mexico, El Salvador, Cuba and Honduras, news outlets reported. Police said they were taken to a school gymnasium to get out of the cold.