Mexican worker beaten by smugglers, U.S. says

BY BRYON WELLS, SUN STAFF WRITER
Dec 7, 2006

While working near the U.S. Port of Entry at Algodones, Baja Calif., a worker for the Mexican customs authority was kidnapped, assaulted and then stripped naked and forced to cross the U.S.-Mexico border by smugglers, said U.S. Border Patrol agent Lloyd Easterling.

The worker, who was not named, told Border Patrol agents that he was ambushed about 8:45 p.m. on Dec. 4 by smugglers after investigating a vehicle the smugglers ran away from near the port of entry a short time earlier, said Easterling, a spokesman for the U.S. agency.

The worker, a janitor assigned to the Mexican customs authority, said he was driven into the desert by the smugglers, who beat and pistol-whipped him before forcing him to dig a hole.

The armed smugglers then forced him into the hole and fired several gunshots near the worker before pulling him out and beating him again. They then stripped him and forced him across the border at gunpoint.

When asked if they were forcing the man to dig his own grave, Easterling said, "That's pretty much exactly what they told him to do."