Police responding to reports of a kidnapping said Friday that they had found more than 90 people crammed into a two-story suburban Houston home that they suspected was being used in a human smuggling operation.
The 90 victims, all but about five of them men, were removed from the house and given food and water, said Daryn Edwards, assistant chief of the Houston Police Department.
"They basically [were] in there in their basic clothing and all, all huddled together. So that's what we saw when we got in," he said. No children were found among them.
Several of the people showed symptoms of COVID-19 infection, including fever and an inability to taste or smell, Edwards said. The victims told police they had not eaten recently.
The victims were issued personal protective gear and put into white buses. It was not immediately clear where they were being taken.
U.S. Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were seen at the house, along with local police and firefighters.
Edwards said no arrests had been made in the case as of Friday afternoon. He declined to offer further details, saying the investigation was continuing.
