Deputies Rescue 8 Aliens Being Held for Ransom

Eight illegal aliens from Mexico were rescued early Tuesday from a house in Paramount where seven smugglers were allegedly holding them for $400 ransom apiece, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

The plot by the so-called “coyotes”--smugglers who bring illegal aliens into the United States from Mexico for money--was uncovered after a friend of one of the captives called authorities, Deputy Mary Landreth said.

The man, Eduardo Arteaga, told deputies that he had tried to pay the $175 that the smugglers initially demanded. Arteaga went to the authorities after he was told that the price had gone up to $400 during a meeting with one of the smugglers and his friend at a Paramount intersection. Arteaga gave deputies the smugglers’ phone number, which was traced to a house in the 8300 block of Ackley Street, where the eight aliens, all men between the ages of 20 and 35, were found. None had been injured.