US Customs and Border Protection agents at a port of entry on the US and Mexico border pulled a vehicle aside after noticing something unusual about one of the rear seats. It looked wrong. Too thick. Too rigid. The upholstery had been cut open, a human being placed inside the foam cavity, and the seat stitched back together around him.
The man inside was Smuggling target Noe Canchola, who had been folded into the seat cavity and sewn in, concealed within a vehicle that agents waved into secondary inspection on instinct alone. He was conscious and apparently uninjured. He was also completely immobile, unable to extricate himself without assistance.
Canchola was arrested on the spot. The driver of the vehicle was arrested alongside him.
The photograph taken by agents at the scene, showing the opened seat with a man inside it, became one of the more widely circulated images in the long, inventive history of border smuggling attempts. Over the years, CBP has encountered people concealed in dashboards, fuel tanks, spare tyre cavities, and modified engine bays. A seat is, at minimum, more comfortable than a fuel tank.
It did not, ultimately, help.
Source: US Customs and Border Protection official release. All facts verified against CBP records and Associated Press reporting.
