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GREENWICH MELEE
Alleged Kidnappers Attacked With Baseball Bats By Victims' Relatives In Greenwich
By DAVID OWENS
August 4, 2009
GREENWICH —
Baseball bat-wielding relatives of three people reportedly kidnapped in Texas attacked two alleged human traffickers at a Greenwich shopping center Sunday.
Police took 19 people into custody after the melee, including one of the alleged traffickers, and federal immigration officials ordered four people held.
Greenwich police said they were alerted Sunday morning by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that they were investigating a possible human smuggling case. The suspects were reportedly in a blue van and were transporting people kidnapped in Texas to Willimantic for ransom, police said.
About 11:30 a.m., Greenwich police got a 911 call reporting a fight at a strip mall in the Riverside section of Greenwich.
Police said they determined that those involved in the fight were the same people that Immigration was investigating.
Relatives of the kidnap victims, rather than pay ransom, decided to rescue the three captives, police said.
Family members agreed to meet the kidnappers at the shopping center.
"They said they were going to bring money, but they came with bats," a police spokesman told the Greenwich Time newspaper.
An Immigration spokesman said that the agency arrested four people on immigration charges, and they were being detained pending further investigation.
The spokesman said that the case remains under investigation and would not comment further.
All but the four ordered held by federal authorities were released.
Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant
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