TECATE - Border Patrol agents caught 25 illegal immigrants in the East County as they were being smuggled in a tractor-trailer.
The group was caught in Tecate Monday at 8:45 after agents spotted suspicious activity.
"They spotted a group of suspected illegal aliens as they boarded a utility van from a brush-laden area along State Route 188," said the Border Patrol in a written statement.
Agents followed the van to a parking lot where they watched people leave the van and enter the cargo area of the tractor-trailer through a trap door in the trailer's floor.
The 49- year-old truck driver was arrested. Agents apprehended 23 males and two females inside the cargo trailer.
The driver is in federal custody a faces alien smuggling charges, according to the Border Patrol.
