State and Federal Police officers detained 228 Central American migrants while they traveled through Chiapas hidden in a truck disguised with Pepsi logos.

Police gave chase on Highway 190 after the truck driver ignored officers’ requests to pull over. When authorities finally forced the truck to stop near Cintalapa, Chiapas, the driver and another man in the truck attempted to pay police an 80,000-peso bribe (US $4,176) to let them continue on their way.

Instead, police officers arrested the two and turned them over to the public prosecutor’s office.

Inside the truck authorities discovered 228 migrants, including many women and children and all from Central American countries. Police accompanied the migrants to the Cupapé migratory station in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, where they received medical attention, food and water.

Both PepsiCo and Grupo GEPP, the corporation’s distributor in Mexico, firmly denied any involvement in the incident. They said that the truck’s prominent Pepsi logos were false.

“The unit detained by authorities does not belong to our distribution fleet, nor is it the property of any company belonging to the group, which means that [the logos] were falsified.”

The corporation added that neither the driver nor the passenger are Pepsi employees and that the company did not authorize the use of its logo.

Source: Infobae (sp)