The Detroit Free Press reported on August 11 that authorities in Detroit (Michigan, USA) have just detained a Canadian driver on charges of bringing 10 Vietnamese immigrants illegally from Canada into the US.

Suspect Husain Al Kawwaz (34 years old) was detained during his first court appearance on August 9. The court is expected to open an interrogation session on August 13 to officially detain this suspect.

The incident occurred on August 7 when Al Kawwaz, an Iraqi-Canadian, checked into the United States at the Fort Street Freight Facility in Detroit at around 11:30 p.m.

The suspect drove the tractor-trailer to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection area and appeared to be the only occupant of the vehicle.

The staff asked the driver to come in for an X-ray inspection of the goods, declared as agricultural products.

Also in this parking lot, at around 0:30 on August 8, security officers discovered 10 people hiding, later identified as Vietnamese citizens. They were unable to question these people due to language differences. The people in the car did not have visas to enter the United States.

Meanwhile, driver Al Kawwaz completed the secondary inspection and drove out of the lot into the United States.

At around 2:00 a.m. on August 8, the authorities checked the security cameras and discovered that the 10 people had exited Al Kawwaz’s vehicle. The officers contacted Al Kawwaz’s dispatcher and asked the driver to return to the border gate.

The driver returned and later admitted that this was the first time he had smuggled immigrants into the United States, after being approached and offered about a week or 10 days ago at a truck stop in Windsor, Canada, for $5,000.

According to court documents, Al Kawwaz told investigators that he brought 10 Vietnamese people from Windsor, hid them in a trailer, and was promised money if they successfully brought them to the United States and returned to Canada.

After arriving at the secondary inspection site, the driver opened the trunk and signaled for the 10 people above to get out, intending to pick them up after the inspection was completed. However, when the inspection was completed, he did not see them, so Al Kawwaz drove away.