Mexico authorities confiscated a fake U.S. Border Patrol truck used by smugglers to try and sneak 17 Mexicans across the border.

On Saturday, local police stopped a white Ford F150 in Ladrillera. This is a remote part of the border city Tijuana in Mexico.

Authorities took pictures of the truck and found replica stickers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

On the truck’s hatch was a sticker with Border Patrol written in green letters.

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Investigators discovered that the pickup was used by smugglers as a way to convince migrants that riding in the vehicle would make it easy for them to enter the United States.

The promise was that the documents would be discarded and they wouldn’t have to submit them.

The National Institute of Migration took custody of these individuals, who were residents of Puebla and Tepic in Mexico, Nayarit and Culiacan y Mazatlan in Mexico, Sinaloa in Mexico, Guerrero in Mexico, Oaxaca in Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Michoacan, Jalisco and Jalisco.

The Attorney General’s Office is holding the vehicle.

Alejandro Salinas is the director of National Institute of Migration task force division, which provides assistance to migrants. He told reporters that the fake U.S. Border Patrol truck was another example of individuals looking for holes in the migrant-smuggling industry at the border.

He said, “It’s the guide that comes up with new ideas and new ways to get around the Mexican or American authorities.” “And then you see that there’s ingenuity everywhere.”

This is not the first instance that border authorities have confiscated a Border Patrol vehicle clone.

El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents in September 2022 arrested a U.S. Citizen and seized a fake SUV. The station’s surveillance systems detected the Chevrolet Tahoe along Highway 98, Imperial County, California. This was about 1.7 miles away from the Mexico border.

After agents placed a tire deflation system on the road, the vehicle stopped completely.

The 18-year old male driver fled from the pickup truck, and was later found hiding in some brush.

CBP agents arrested U.S. citizen Alexander Celaya in August 2021 for driving a fake agency car while ferrying four migrants to Sells, Arizona.

Celaya was dressed in a U.S. Border Patrol Uniform at the time of arrest.