Oct. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. border officials said Wednesday that more than a dozen undocumented migrants via Russia and former Soviet satellite states were taken into custody near Puerto Rico.
Border authorities intercepted a 41-foot sailboat carrying 13 migrants near Combate Beach on Puerto Rico's west coast Sunday afternoon, officials said. Air and Marine Operations, part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, tracked the vessel as it approached the shoreline with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Puerto Rican Police's Fuerzas Unidas de Rapida Accion unit.
"This successful interdiction demonstrates the unwavering commitment and vigilance of the Michel O. Maceda Marine Unit in protecting our nation's borders," Christopher Hunter, director of the Caribbean Air and Marine Branch, said in a statement.
Agents found 13 people aboard that included 10 unidentified men from Uzbekistan, a woman from Kyrgyzstan and two Russian men.
None of the undocumented suspects had official papers allowing legal entry to the United States.
