Inside sinister Fort Worth human trafficking stash house where migrants were hidden in basement via secret tunnel and smugglers worshipped cartel saint Santa Muerte

A recent bust of a so-called stash house, where human traffickers hide and warehouse illegal immigrants as they are being snuck into the US, offers a rare glimpse into how migrants get from the US-Mexico border to cities as far away as Chicago and New York while staying in the shadows.

Texas state troopers were tipped off to a house in Fort Worth that was being used as a stash house Friday, Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland told DailyMail.com.

Inside, cops found five illegal immigrants, an altar to the Santa Muerte and a tunnel were migrants, and possibly drugs, could be easily hidden. 

'We always associate stash houses with the border, but they're all over the US,' Cleveland, a retired Border Patrol agent and sheriff of Sanderson, Texas, explained.

'We have information other migrants being smuggled by this same group had already made it to Georgia.'

The opening to a tunnel where people could easily be hidden was found inside a Fort Worth stash house where five illegal immigrants were arrested Friday

The stash house also had a makeshift shrine to Santa Muerte, the cartel patron saint

Five illegal immigrants were taken into custody and turned over federal immigration authorities

Several mattresses cramped into one bedroom where found in the house, a sign that people were being squeezed into a small space

The suspected stash house, located in River Oaks just outside of Fort Worth, has been a rental property for at least the last year, according to the owner

A tipster first reached out to the border sheriff with the information, before Cleveland passed it on state police who were in place to move in on the house.

Texas DPS did not immediately comment on whether anyone was charged for smuggling as a result of the bust. 

The five illegal immigrants in the house, a woman and four men, were turned over to federal immigration authorities. 

A photo of the groups shows the woman smiling at the camera. 

It often takes some time to determine who is the smuggler and who is being smuggled, as traffickers often try to pass themselves off immigrants in order to avoid criminal charges. 

Perhaps even more concerning is the altar to Santa Muerte, the patron saint of cartels.  

In recent years, US law enforcement has become increasingly interested in the cloaked skeleton woman holding a globe and sickle in her hands, as images of the figure are increasingly tied to individuals in organized crime in both the US and Mexico.

In the Fort Worth stash house, apples, flowers, a bottle of tequila and cigarettes had been left as offerings to Santa Muerte

This statue of the Holy Death was seized by the DEA in 2011 from two women transporting over 700 grams of methamphetamine between Arizona and Minnesota, was painted gold to represent economic power, success, and prosperity

 Santa Muerte, the female personifcation of death has been denounced by the Catholic Church, forbids her worship as blasphemous.

However, cult-like followers have been growing in recent years, including within the drug cartel community.

Members of drug cartels are known to venerate her, asking for her protection in their criminal exploits, and leaving offerings to her, including cash, food and flowers.

 In the Fort Worth stash house, apples, flowers, a bottle of tequila and cigarettes had been offered to her. 

Altars for the skeleton woman have been linked to other criminals, like Michelle Pineda known as 'La Chely.'

The Mexican woman was wanted in Mexico for cartel killings where she would dismember her victims and remove their hearts as offerings to an altar of 'Santa Muerte.'

She was part of the  'Artistas Asesinos' street gang, a Sinaloa Cartel enforcement unit in El Paso. 

Mexican national Michelle Pineda was arrested by the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol at an El Paso, Texas hotel last Thursday. The 22-year-old is accused of five murders where she made offerings to Santa Muerte. Francisco Oropesa, a 38-year-old Mexican, was arrested for shooting five people in Cleveland, Texas. He had an altar to the cartel patron saint in his bedroom

Oropesa had several tattoos dedicated to the 'Santa Muerte death cult'. A shrine honoring the cult was found in his room following the massacre

In another case, a Texas gunman who shot dead five people in 2023 near Houston, including a nine-year-old, had an elaborate altar to the saint in his house.

Francisco Oropesa, 38, opened fire in his neighbors' Cleveland home, about 40 miles north of Houston, in May 2023 after they asked him to stop firing the gun in his backyard.

Oropesa, had tattoos of the death clut saint as well as a shrine in his bedroom. Candles from the display were still burning from when the gunman opened fire on his victims.

The owner of the Fort Woth house revealed the property is a rental home that she leased to two women over a year ago, the owner who identified herself as Maria, claimed.

Maria stated she had no idea what the women did for a living or even their immigration status, as she believed it was illegal to ask them. 

She said the women paid their rent on time and she had no idea who they were keeping in the house, as she would only come by the house once a year for a maintenance check. 

However she denied that the house, located in a Fort Worth suburb River Oaks, had a tunnel in it.

She said it was a crawl space for repairman and utility workers to be able to access pipes. 

When asked if it could have been used to hide illegal immigrants, she said she could not rule it out.