PONCHATOULA — One of two suspects who escaped while being transported through Tangipahoa Parish by Border Patrol agents has been caught, according to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office.

According to the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, agents conducted a traffic stop on I-12 eastbound at the Tangipahoa/St. Tammany parish line around 6:45 a.m. Three men in the vehicle were detained, but the driver and front seat passenger ran from agents, one headed north of the interstate and the other ran south. Both were barefoot and handcuffed in the front.

Officials say a report was received of a handcuffed man in a blue long-sleeve shirt and khaki pants trying to break into a mobile home on Dusty Lane off C.C. Road in the Bedico area.

Sheriff Gerald Sticker says they set up a perimeter, with the help of helicopters, drones, and a team of K-9's to suppress any possible movement.

"We put them at the subject's last known location. They were able to pick up a scent, and they pushed through the wooded area that's pretty thick, and they pushed him actually out of that wood line and into the waiting arms of one of our perimeter units," Sticker said. 

At 3 p.m., that suspect was taken back into custody when he emerged from the woods behind the Bedico Creek Trailer Park. He was identified as 26-year-old Eduin Gonzalez Avilez of Honduras.

The second suspect, 31-year-old Elvin Martinez of Honduras, is believed to be in the wooded area north of I-12 in the Robert/Hammond area, possibly in St. Tammany Parish. He was last seen wearing a long-sleeved camouflage shirt and blue jeans, with no shoes, and handcuffed in the front.

"I don't have any intel at this particular time as to his criminal history, but I would err on the side of caution, right, so he's not in handcuffs for no good reason," Sticker said.  

Anyone with information regarding the escapees is urged to contact law enforcement.