Border officers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry are used to seeing creative smuggling attempts, but this one stopped them cold. During an evening inspection, Customs and Border Protection officers pried open a freshly modified fuel tank and discovered a woman trapped inside, drenched in gasoline and suffering what appeared to be chemical burns.
Medics rushed in, cut away her gasoline-soaked clothing, decontaminated her at the scene and took her to a hospital. She was treated and later released. The driver of the SUV was arrested on suspicion of smuggling her for profit.
Federal prosecutors identified the driver as Ulises Gallardo, a U.S. citizen who was arrested and charged with bringing in aliens for financial gain, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. The complaint states that agents first spotted a human foot sticking out from a hidden compartment, then pried open an access panel that appeared to have been welded into the SUV’s metal flooring. Gallardo has been booked in federal court, and the charges remain allegations at this stage. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
What Officers Found
Court records reviewed by The San Diego Union-Tribune describe a harrowing scene once officers freed the woman. A Mexican citizen, she told them she had been sealed inside the fuel tank for about 90 minutes and said it felt like she was burning alive. She also reported paying smugglers about $10,000 for the attempt to enter the United States, according to the records…