U.S. border cops nab 49 migrants in tanker truck

PHOENIX (Reuters) - U.S. border police in California nabbed 49 illegal immigrants they found hiding in the tank of a stolen water truck near the Mexico border, authorities said on Friday.

The Border Patrol in San Diego said an agent stopped a water truck driving without a license plate in an area notorious for human and drug smuggling close to the Mexico border, known locally as "Smuggler's Gulch Canyon."

A search of a large white tank on the back of the sturdy Mack truck found 49 illegal immigrants crammed inside.

"It was hot and pretty tight in there and the majority of them were experiencing the first stages of dehydration," said Border Patrol agent Jason Rodgers.

The illegal immigrants were arrested, along with the driver of the truck.

Each year border police arrest hundreds of thousands of people crossing illegally over the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border with Mexico and sneaking through more than a dozen ports of entry hidden in vehicles or using stolen border crossing documents.

(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Bill Trott)