Wheat Ridge police arrested two Mexican nationals Monday night on suspicion of human smuggling after officers found nine people in their van.
Police said two men went into a convenience store at West 32nd Avenue and Youngfield Street around 9 p.m. Monday and tried to cash a counterfeit $100 bill. Police arrived and opened the men’s van to find nine people inside.
Two of the passengers fled on foot and were lost. Six males and one female, ranging in ages from 18 to 38, were detained. Police said the passengers told officers that each had paid $2,500 to be driven from Mexico into the United States.
The seven passengers were turned over to the Colorado Network to End Human Trafficking (CoNEHT), which is a branch of the Colorado Department of Public Safety.
Arrested were Bernardino Fuentes-Espinoza, 35, and Guadelupe Alvarez, 42, who were taken to the Jefferson County Jail.
