Guatemala detains 33 migrants from Nepal, Bangladesh

GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA – Guatemalan authorities Monday, December 21, were holding 33 undocumented migrants from Nepal and Bangladesh found being transported in a bus on the outskirts of the capital and presumed to be trying to make it to the United States.

The group, all men, was arrested on Sunday in the east of Guatemala City during a police operation triggered by a tip-off about possible smuggling of migrants in the area, the police said in a statement.

There were 16 Nepalese and 17 Bangladeshis on the bus, the statement said, adding that they were also suspected of wanting to enter the United States. They were taken to a hostel run by the state migration service in the south of the capital.

How the men made it from their homelands in South Asia to Central America was not given.

However in June, Guatemalan officials arrested four Guatemalans suspected of smuggling migrants from Asia and Africa to the United States. And in August, police discovered 11 Nepalese, seven Bangladeshis, a Salvadoran and a Honduran holed up in a house in the south of the country. – Rappler.com