by Matt Chiappardi, Special Writer
ROBBINSVILLE— It has been determined that eight people recently apprehended by township police are not part of a human smuggling ring, according to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
However, all eight have been charged with being in the United States illegally, are in federal custody and are awaiting a hearing before a federal immigration judge, ICE spokesman Harold Ort said Tuesday.
At 11:08 a.m. Jan. 30, Robbinsville police stopped a van traveling on Interstate 195 because it had a cracked windshield, according to Township Police Detective Pete Galazka. The van’s driver provided police with a fraudulent Tennessee driver’s license and told officers his name was Freddy Belzasar Moraoes, Det. Galazka added. In the back of the van were seven passengers, five male and two female, each of whom latter admitted they had illegally entered the country from Mexico and were being transported to Union City to get work, police said.
None of the van’s occupants had any type of valid identification, nor did they have any local relatives, Det. Galazka said.
The driver was charged for the windshield and for being unlicensed, according to police. Officers towed the van and transported all eight people to headquarters without incident, police said.
”They were kind and polite, and they were also scared,” Det. Galazka said.
About two hours later they were transferred to the custody of ICE authorities in Newark, he added.
Neither township police nor ICE would release their names or ages because at least one of them is under the age of 18, Mr. Ortsaid. Mr. Ort would not say what part of Mexico they were from, and would not discuss any other details of the federal authorities’ investigation into the matter.

