US detains immigrants aboard small plane in Texas

US officials intercepted a small plane and arrested four illegal Chinese immigrants it was transporting from the Texas-Mexico border to San Antonio, federal authorities said yesterday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shadowed the plane in an interceptor jet after being alerted to its flight path by the agency's monitoring office in California, spokesman Gary Bracken said.

Law enforcement agents took the passengers - two men and two women - and the Mexican pilot into custody when the plane landed at San Antonio's Stinson Field. San Antonio police had earlier said the plane was forced to land, but federal authorities said the plane was tracked and allowed to land at the San Antonio airport, where it was headed.

The four had valid Chinese passports and none of the names appeared on the government's database of terrorist suspects, Alonzo R. Pena, special agent in charge of the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told a news conference.