Bexar County Sheriff's deputies are investigating a large human smuggling operation in South Bexar County involving 26 victims.
Authorities were called out just after noon Thursday to an area on Loop 1604 and Oak Island Drive near Applewhite Road.
According to the Bexar Country Sheriff Javier Salazar, 26 victims were discovered inside a goose-neck trailer with a mesh, false compartment. It is believed that the trailer was coming from the Laredo area, a three-hour drive away with temperatures dangerously close to triple digits. There was no air conditioning inside the truck.
"Underneath is a large false compartment that these people were just laying down in there, exposed to the elements," said Salazar. "The reported being in that compartment for upwards of three hours. Obviously not much by way of water."
"There's no AC, there's no running water, they've got buckets that everybody has been utilizing as toilets. I didn't even see any source of drinking water, but it's miserable conditions there and it's just blazing hot in there," said Sheriff Salazar.
"This is the fault of the blood-thirsty organizations that are bringing these people across and putting them in harms way," said Salazar.
Eleven were rushed to the hospital for heat exhaustion. One woman from Guatemala said she paid $16,000 to be transported to Texas. Seven suspected smugglers are under arrest. Investigators believe the home was also used for cockfighting.