New Mexico Police Free Hostages – After Raiding Wrong House

A big mistake by cops in New Mexico turned into a big break for over 60 victims of human smuggling.

It started with a call from a worried grandmother in Arizona alerting Albuquerque police that her daughter, grandkids and niece had been smuggled into the country from El Salvador and were now being held hostage by the smugglers.

She said the smugglers were going to kill them all unless they were given $28K. Thanks to a location PIN from her nieces cell phone, she was able to give police longitude and latitude coordinates.

Police went to the location, got a warrant and stormed the home ... but it wasn't the right house. The startled resident initially told police that he understood the mistake and that everything was cool but later sued for damages and mental grief.

Meanwhile, detectives noticed that a house about 130 feet away looked suspicious because it was dark, all gates were locked and all the windows covered. They couldn't get a 2nd warrant after that first goof up though so they had to walk away.

Then, just hours later, the team received a message from one of the four that they were safe. “She found her way out of the residence because we were there the night before, and the people that were watching the house left, they fled to avoid us. And that left them the ability to leave,” he explained. - krqe

The victim led detectives to the house she'd escaped from and it was indeed the one they'd suspected. Noticing the smell of gas, they kicked in the door and found over 60 other hostages. Except for being hungry and thirsty, they were fine.

A happy ending for the hostages and the first homeowner who got $120,000 from Albuquerque PD for repairs and "grief".