Satellite images of the words 'help,' 'trafico' near L.A. railroad go viral
Enter the city of Los Angeles, where a small triangular plot of land located along the Los Angeles River in Lincoln Heights, near the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Mission Road, has garnered the attention of people on social media and sparked conspiracy theories and concerns about criminal activity related to human trafficking and drug cartels.
The satellite images show the word 'help' had been spelled out about a dozen times on the piece of land that is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad. The Spanish words 'trafficking,' 'federal' and 'terrorism' were also spelled out as well as 'LAPD' and 'FBI.'
Despite the alarming messages, police have yet to confirm that anything nefarious is happening in that location.
Laura Eimiller, spokesperson for the FBI, referred all questions to the Los Angeles Police Department.
In a statement, the LAPD said that it had responded Sunday morning to an 'unknown trouble' call near Mission Road and 101 Freeway.
'Upon arrival, officers conducted a thorough investigation and found no evidence of any criminal activity or threat in the area,' the statement read.
The police department also concluded that the satellite images shared on social media were taken in 2023. A news helicopter for KTLA showed that the words were still at the property as of Monday afternoon.
The police department said it had notified Union Pacific Railroad about the incident and referred further questions to the railroad company.
A company spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
On the social media platform X, the images sparked conspiracy theories about human trafficking at the location because of the message and because the location is near a shipping yard.
🔥🚨BREAKING NEWS: This disturbing message was spotted on Google Maps in Los Angeles, California, with the words 'Help' and 'Traffico' written in the debris, surrounded by shipping containers. It has been confirmed that the lot next to this location is a shipping yard which has… pic.twitter.com/swvBnSogXu
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) January 26, 2025
"There's a deep subterranean system under the surface that the access points are covered by containers they use cranes to remove. There's a lot more going on than what's visible on the surface," wrote a user by the name of Cyrus on the same platform.
At least one other person produced a video using AI images showing shipping containers filled with people, tunnels and armed men. The video included the message: 'The truth is in the tunnels' along with the coordinates of the property. 'Someone took time to place dozens of logs and scrap to write the words 'help,' 'trafico,' 'LAPD' and 'federal' big enough to be seen on Google maps.'
But a man who traveled to the location said on X that he interviewed homeless people in the area who claimed that a homeless man had been writing the messages for years. Some residents from the area confirm those details and have posted images of similar messages written on trees and walls with spray paint in the area near the property in question.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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